


i!,*' 




Class L^t:/. 
Bonk -v?^ 
GopyiiglttN? 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



COLLEGE MEN 
WITHOUT MONEY 



EDITED BY 

C. B. RIDDLE 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



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V^%5 



Copyright, 1914 

By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

Published June, igi^. 



JliL -^1914 

^CI,A37466() 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

PAGE 

A Mother's Desire Realized — Ames i 

"Magna Cum Laude " — Aspinall 5 

Task Worth While — Clark 8 

Making Odd Hours Pay — Day la 

The College Store — Dodge 15 

Brother Helps Brother — Draper 19 

The College Inspiration — Dyer 24. 

Overcoming Hardships — Frazier 29 

The Dignity of Service — Fox 35 

A Happy Misfortune — French 4a 

Finding One's Place — Gernert 47 

"The Tarheel" — Gunter 49 

No Work Too Hard — Halfaker 53 

Cultivating Side Lines — Heller 60 

A Smiling Self-Reliance — Hughes 65 

A Mother's Influence — Kendall 67 

Riches More of a Handicap than Poverty — Lav^tience . . 75 

The Will and the Way — McCuskey ....... 79 

Keep Good Company — McLeod 82 

The Democracy of a College — Moon 83 

Obeying the Call — Morgan 88 

Determination and Steadfastness Wins — Mosley ... 91 

Making Oneself Useful — Nelson 96 

A Faith "Divinely Simple" — Nicks iia 

One Who Knov^^s It Can Be Done 115 



Contents 

PAGE 

Difficulty and Willingness Are Enemies — Rowland . . lao 

Faithful in Little Things — Saunders 126 

From Janitor to College President — Staley 134 

Starting with Five Dollars 138 

From Good to Better — Swain 142 

A Task with a Moral — Traynor 146 

From the University of Denver Bulletin 151 

The Fraternity of Workers — Van Ruschen 157 

How the Physical Side Helped — Wade 162 

The Way Always Open — Walters . . . . . . . ,167 

The Victory that Overcometh the World — Watkins . . 171 

Opportunities Make us Known — Wentzel 177 

Making Play out of Work — Wiggins . . . . . . .185 

Nothing Succeeds Like Success — Wright 189 

Work a Stimulus to Ambition 194 

The University as a Goal * . . aoo 

PART II 

Working to Make Himself a More Useful Man — Bassford 205 

Many Lanes of Usefulness — Boswell 208 

Another Example of the Willing Heart — Daft . . . 212 

Difficulties Prepare for Real Work — Frye 215 

Pluck Rather than Luck — Henry 221 

Poverty Is Not His Master — Johnson 225 

Defeat Does Not Mean Failure — Johnson 228 

"Start Right" — Johnson . 230 

The Real Question — Jorgenson 233 

Willingness to Work a Great Asset — Moore .... 239 

Keep on Trying — Omahart 242 

Optimism is an Asset — Oxley 245 

The Desire for Something Better — Patrick ..... 249 



Contents 

Determination versus Poverty — Porter 253 

The Real Needs of the World — Rankin 255 

The One Who Succeeds Is the One Who Tries — Scurr . 257 

The Help Yourself Club — Sellars 261 

The How and Why — Shinn 263 

Making Use of Every Opportunity — Smith 266 

Education Worth the Price — West 273 

Work no Class Barrier — Wright 280 

PART in 

How to Work One's Way through College — Brown . . 283 
Does a College Education Pay? 286 



PREFACE 

Having entered the preparatory schools with 94 
cents, and college with less, and knowing that the 
greater number of those who control the affairs of 
the nation and who strive to make the country better, 
are men and women who did likewise, the thought 
for this book entered my mind. The first aim was 
to collect matter from students only, but this was 
changed. The main part of the book contains arti- 
cles from college and university graduates. The 
last part of the book contains contributions from 
students now in college, and shows how the actual 
thing of working one's way through college or uni- 
versity Is being done. A few of the articles which 
go to make this volume were used as a special series 
in the Raleigh Times, Raleigh, North Carolina, and 
requests from various parts of the country were re- 
ceived by the compiler for the production of the 
series. 

The object of the compiler Is not to praise the 
merits of those who have succeeded, but to point a 
moral to young men and women who desire an edu- 
cation and have small means. A prominent editor 
says: "The history of college education among 
English speaking people is now about one thousand 



viii Preface 

years old. It began with the University of Oxford 
in England, which has been in existence a decade of 
centuries. It has spread to many lands, but in all 
lands it has been about the same to the poor boy. 
It can be truly said that he has never seen an age 
or a country or a college where he had an easy time 
In getting his diploma. It has always been a fearful 
struggle for him, and it will doubtless continue to 
be. But it is also true that the brightest pages, the 
very brightest, in all our long educational history 
are those that record the triumphs of the poor boy. 
And his triumphs are written throughout that great 
period. He has demonstrated a thousand times 
over that ' where there Is a will there is a way,' that 
' poverty does not chain one to the soil.' " 

So, my efforts have been to help rather than to 
praise, to make the past a great light for the future, 
and to pave the way for more college men not 
blessed with wealth. If this volume serves to aid 
one in these directions I shall be glad. 

To Professor W. P. Lawrence, Professor E. E. 
Randolph, Professor R. A. Campbell and President 
W. A. Harper, of the Elon College Faculty, the 
compiler is greatly indebted for their faithful service 
in the preparation of this work; also to many others 
who offered suggestions and advice. 

C. B. Riddle. 
Elon College, N. C. 

March i6, 19 14. 



PART I 
A, MOTHER'S DESIRE REALIZED 

FORREST B. AMES, B.A. 

BEFORE the close of my high school course I 
faced two proposals, acceptance of one of 
which would cause me to go to college; the other 
would set me to work. The first was this : pro- 
vided I would live at home in Bangor and go back 
and forth daily to the University of Maine in Orono 
(a ride of about fifty minutes on the electric car) I 
was offered about half of the expenses of my entire 
college course. The second was — work. 

Thanks to my mother's influence and the fact that 
I wanted a college education, I had no hesitation in 
accepting the first proposal. Thus I came to be- 
long, not to a class of " college men with no money," 
but rather to that of " college men with little money." 
[The essential difference is one of degree only, pro- 
vided there Is present a true determination to se- 
cure a college education. 

Why did I go to college ? To a great extent be- 
cause of my mother's influence; because of her who 
could not conceive of her sons as non-college men. 
She thus constantly encouraged us to go to college 



2 College Men without Money 

regardless of whether we had to earn all or part of 
our way. In addition to this ever-present influence 
I was a somewhat imaginative and philosophical lad. 
It seemed to me that just as a hill was made not 
merely for climbing, but that the climber should be 
rewarded for his attempt by the beautiful view of 
broader countries seen from the summit; even so 
a college education was designed, not to be a stum- 
bling block to the youth of our country, but rather 
to serve as a means of intellectual elevation from 
which should open up visions of greater things in 
life. These two things made me become a " col- 
lege man with little money," who was ready to do 
any honest work to make up the financial deficiency. 

How did I earn my way through college ? In an 
account book, which I have preserved for many 
years, I find this statement, written when I was a 
sophomore In high school: "School closed (for 
the summer vacation) Friday. On Saturday I 
helped Roy cut grass and received twenty-five cents. 
From that regular employment followed and I 
earned and spent money as follows; " 

There follows, then, a record of fifteen cents from 
someone for cutting grass, or fifty cents from an- 
other for a bit of carpenter work such as a boy could 
do. Very consistently during the remainder of my 
high school course I worked, caring for lawns and 
gardens in the summer, and running one furnace 
and sometimes two and shoveling snow in the win- 
ter. I also pumped a church organ. By these 



College Men without Money 3 

means I earned and saved $200.00 in the two years 
before I was ready to go to college. This sum I 
placed in the bank. 

For two years of my college course I lived at 
home and went to and from the University each day. 
To earn money I tended a furnace and shoveled 
snow, pumped a church organ, and occasionally sold 
tickets at various entertainments in the Bangor City 
Hall. In the fall of the sophomore year I won a 
first prize of fifteen dollars in the annual sophomore 
declamations. During the summer between my first 
and second years in college I worked as an amateur 
landscape gardener, caring for lawns and gardens 
and doing odd jobs of all kinds. For the greater 
part of the summer following the second year I 
worked as a carpenter. I also tried the work of 
book agent, but made little headway at that. 

Beginning with my junior year at college my plans 
were considerably changed. No longer did I 
travel to and from college daily, but, thanks to the 
generosity of a friend, I was permitted to live at 
the fraternity which I had joined in my freshman 
year. Thus I was given an opportunity to enter into 
the larger life and activity of the University, and so 
to share some of the college honors and profit by 
them. 

But still there was the necessity of earning money. 
I still lacked many dollars, even many hundred dol- 
lars, necessary to secure my college education. 
During that junior year I worked at every oppor- 



4 College Men without Money 

tunlty and earned money by selling tickets at va- 
rious places, giving readings at a church entertain- 
ment, winning another first prize in the junior dec- 
lamations, taking school census In my home ward in 
Bangor, and by doing odd jobs whenever any pre- 
sented themselves. During the summer I secured 
work at a seashore resort and because of the some- 
what Isolated nature of the place saved nearly all my 
earnings. 

In amount of money earned in all ways, my 
senior year was the best of my ei:itire college course. 
During the Christmas recess I worked as floor- 
walker in a store, and during the spring vacation 
again took school census, this time in a larger ward 
which returned me more money. I won fifty dol- 
lars in an Intercollegiate speaking contest, and 
earned nearly sixty-five dollars as substitute teacher 
In Bangor high school. These amounts, combined 
with my previous savings, or what was left of them, 
and ^n advance from the same friend, enabled me 
to graduate from the University of Maine in 19 13 
with all bills paid, but burdened with a great debt 
of gratitude that I can never properly pay. 

As I look back over my college course, I feel that 
it was worth all the work that I was obliged to do. 

Orono, Maine. 



" MAGNA CUM LAUDE " 

REV. RICHARD ASPINALL, B.A., M.A., B.D. 

AT the age of twenty-five I went to West Vir- 
ginia Wesleyan College with a fairly large 
amount of worldly experience, very little book learn- 
ing, and enough money to take me through two 
terms of school. I was preparing myself for the 
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
was willing to preach my way through school. I 
did not know anyone in the school, nor did I have 
any definite promise that I would get a charge near 
the College. Incidentally, I might say that I had 
been in this country only eighteen months at that 
time. I landed in New York with only six dollars, 
plus the amount that the immigration authorities re- 
quire each one to have upon landing on these shores. 
I did not know a man from Maine to California. 
After consultation with the Dean I found that I 
needed one year to complete the college entrance 
requirements. During the next summer I made 
enough money to pay my few debts; so I re- 
turned to the college square with the world. A few 
weeks after school opened, I went to our conference 
and was assigned to a circuit in close proximity to 
the College, which paid me $360 for the year. 

5 



6 College Men without Money 

There were six appointments on the circuit; each con- 
gregation wanted me to hold a protracted meeting 
and I had to hire a horse every Sunday, for the 
average distance for me to travel was twenty miles 
a Sunday. 

There was no opportunity to make any extra 
money, for I held protracted meetings in the vaca- 
tions and had to do extra pastoral work in the sum- 
mer, which, of course, had been sadly neglected 
during the school year. It need hardly be said that 
there were many trying times. I had much practi- 
cal experience in a system of bookkeeping; but, 
somehow, and at very irregular intervals, the bills 
were all paid at the end of the year. 

I was returned a second year. [The salary was 
increased $50.00, and for a time I was passing rich. 
But troubles were plentiful, sometimes. I was go- 
ing out on a mission of good cheer, riding thirty 
miles on Sunday — it may be in sleet and snow, and 
the steward had been able to collect only $3.21, 
when I needed much more than that to pay my board 
bills. Then when I could succeed in casting these 
gloomy thoughts from my mind, in would rush the 
inspiring thoughts of my Latin, Greek, Hebrew and 
Math., all fighting for first consideration. Notwith- 
standing, given good health, one can get through. 
It has been done and can be done again, is part of 
my philosophy. 

The last two years saw me on another charge, 
paying much more money, but a much more difficult 



College Men without Money J 

field, mentally. I was able to graduate, free from 
debt, though I had seldom been so during the whole 
five years. I feel as though I have a right to say 
that I did not slight my work, for I was graduated 
*' Magna cum Laude " and took a few other honors 
besides. 

fTaken collectively, the grind of lessons, the wor- 
ries of a circuit together with shortage of money are 
not always conducive to optimism, but I felt like I 
had to get through. The same zest I had then for 
learning is still with me. I may say that I have no 
more money than I had when in college, but as much 
ambition. 

Madison, N. /. 



TASK WORTH WHILE 

THOMAS ARKLE CLARK^ B.L., DEAN OF MEN, UNI- 
VERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

I WORKED my way through college from ne- 
cessity — I had to do so, or to give up the Idea 
of having a college education at all. I had no ideas 
then concerning the great advantages of such a 
course. 

When I was a little boy my father had formed the 
plan of sending me to college when I should have 
reached the proper age, but he died when I was 
scarcely fifteen years old, and my hope of ever se- 
curing a college education vanished. Seven years 
later, when I was twenty-two, a chance experience 
renewed within me the desire to go to college, and 
I laid my plans accordingly. 

I had little money, though I had been teaching 
school two years and had also been farming for my- 
self. It seemed to me then, and I feel it much more 
strongly now that I have had an experience with 
hundreds of other students in a similar situation, that 
it would be better to delay beginning my college 
course until I had saved enough money to give me 
a good start. This I did, farming another year and 
spending an additional winter in teaching a country 



College Men ^without Money 9 

school. When I was ready to enter college I had 
money, which I had myself earned, more than suf- 
ficient to pay all of my college expenses for two 
years. 

I had not been in college long before I saw that 
the fellow with no special talent or training is very 
much handicapped in earning his living. Such a man 
must take what work he can get, and must usually 
work at a minimum wage. Often, too, the only 
work which he can get is mere drudgery. The man 
who can sing or can play a musical instrument well, 
the man with a trade, or a particular fitness for any 
special sort of work, can earn his living more quickly 
and more pleasantly than can the man who must con- 
fine himself to unskilled labor. 

Soon after I entered college a chance came to me 
to become an apprentice in the office of the college 
paper and to learn to be a printer. I did not need 
to earn money during my first year, so I entered the 
printing office, and gave myself to learning to set 
type. 

I worked at the trade industriously during my 
leisure moments, the fellows in the office were quite 
willing to instruct me, and at the end of a year I 
had become so proficient that I was employed as a 
regular type-setter. In this way I earned satisfac- 
tory wages during the rest of my college course. 

My connection with the college paper gave me 
an Interest in newspaper work in general, and I soon 
had an opportunity to do reporting for one of the 



lo College Men without Money 

city dally papers published in the college town. For 
this work I was paid a definite amount a column, 
with an understanding that the total amount of news 
which I should furnish each week should not ex- 
ceed a set number of columns. 

These two sources of revenue, together with small 
amounts which I was able to earn proved quite suf- 
ficient to furnish me enough money to meet my reg- 
ular college expenses. [They gave me, also, more 
pleasure than I should have been able to obtain had 
I been forced to earn my living by means of un- 
skilled toil. 

My summer vacations 1 employed on the farm. 
I had many rosy opportunities presented to me by 
solicitors who came to the University to earn possibly 
fabulous sums of money during the vacation by re- 
tailing their wares, but I preferred to work on the 
farm for two reasons: such work offered me a defi- 
nite sum for my summer's work, small though it 
might be, and I was in such a position that I felt that 
I should know what I could rely on. It gave me 
in addition three months strenuous exercise in the 
open air, and thus prepared me for the months of 
hard study that came through the college year. 

As I look back now at the manner in which I 
earned my way through college, it seems to me in 
the light of the many years of experience which I 
have had since, a very good way. As I have watched 
the hundreds of self-supporting students at the Uni- 
versity of Illinois, I am led to the conclusion that it 



College Men without Money ii 

is seldom a good plan to start upon a college course 
without money, even if one has to postpone going 
until that Is earned. Unskilled labor Is unprofitable, 
and anyone who would succeed must have or must 
develop skill or training in some special work. 
Lastly, it seems to me that the average man will 
find it very much better to employ his vacations In 
work that will bring him a definite and assured In- 
come, even though that be small, than to risk earn- 
ing ten times as much, as a book agent, for example, 
where he is quite likely to fail. 

Urbana, III. 



MAKING ODD HOURS PAY 

REV. JONATHAN C. DAY, A.B., D.D. 

I WAS born in Harlan County, Kentucky, which 
is one of the remote southeastern mountain 
counties of that State, on the twentieth of December, 
1877. I was one of eight boys. After my mother 
died my father married a second time. He had six 
boys and two daughters by his second marriage. 
We lived on a rough mountain .farm. Our income 
was meager and our educational and cultural ad- 
vantages even more meager. Our public schools 
were of the poorest kind and lasted only three 
months in the year. We did not attend them even 
consecutively through these three months. I al- 
ways was ambitious, however, after I had learned 
to read, to get what I could from school, and from 
books. 

My mother died when I was fourteen years of 
age. It was about this time that I began to try 
to attend public schools regularly although ours 
were poor. At the age of seventeen I had my first 
five consecutive months of school. This gave me 
a taste for more knowledge, since here we were 
studying geography and history and those branches 



College Men without Money 13 

which gave us some knowledge of a larger world 
than we mountain boys knew. 

At eighteen I entered the Presbyterian School at 
Harlan Town. I graduated from this little acad- 
emy when I was twenty. All of this time I had taken 
great delight in working odd hours outside of school 
and on Saturdays and holidays, to pay my way. By 
this time I found it possible to teach in the country 
schools. This I did two terms. There was finally 
an opening at college where I had a chance to pay 
my way by taking care of the fires, milking cows, 
running errands, etc., for a gentleman who lived 
near the college and who had to be away from home 
most of the time. 

I entered Tusculum College at Green eville, Tenn., 
in September, 1897. I worked for Mr. L. L. Law- 
rence, an attorney, who lived near the college 
campus. My work was not very hard, but took a 
great many hours each day. By diligent applica- 
tion to my studies I found it possible to make up the 
branches in which I was deficient in the preparatory 
department, and to graduate with my Bachelor's de- 
gree on the 1st of June, 1901. Having to do the 
manual labor that I did and at regular hours, es- 
tablished in me regular habits, both in meeting en- 
gagements and in preparation for classes, which I 
have found in later life invaluable. As I look back 
over my experience in college, I cannot remember 
the time when I was not perfectly delighted with the 
opportunity of work and study, even though I went 
many weeks destitute of " spending money." 



14 College Men without Money 

After I had finished college I entered upon a 
course of theological study which I pursued for four 
years graduating from McCormick Seminary in the 
spring of 1907. Meantime, however, I gave two 
years to teaching and to the work of the Y. M. C. A. 
as student secretary in Tennessee. This I found 
necessary in order to earn money to purchase books 
and carry on my courses of study without running 
too heavily in debt. 

Since I have been regularly in the ministry, I have 
many times given thanks for the Providence that 
made it necessary for me to get what little I did get 
in the way of education through this long course of 
labor, manual and mental. Many encouragements 
came along the way. There were many kind friends 
who, without my solicitation, have helped me at 
various times. I believe that the man who tries will 
always find much encouragement. 

New York City. 



THE COLLEGE STORE 

PROFESSOR W. I. DODGE, B.S.A. 

BY way of introduction, I will say that when I 
was In school I never had any inclination 
whatever to attend a higher Institution of learning. 
But upon graduation from the ninth grade I was In- 
fluenced to attend the academy. I was at that time 
living in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. I attended the 
academy there two years, and then finished my pre- 
paratory course at Vermont Academy, Saxton's 
River, Vermont. As time drew near for gradua- 
tion there, I finally became quite Interested In agri- 
culture and I decided to enter the Agricultural De- 
partment of the University of Vermont at Burling- 
ton. The next question was, " How am I to bear 
the expense?" My father was perfectly willing to 
help me and desirous of helping me through, but he 
was financially unable to send me through on his own 
resources. Since I was desirous of learning, I agreed 
to find some method of helping him out. It was 
finally decided that I should enter that fall (1908) 
and my application was sent and accepted. 

My father, who aided me to the extent of $50 
the first year, went to Burlington a short while be- 
fore College was to open and held an Interview with 

IS 



1 6 College Men without Money 

Professor J. S. Hills, the Dean of the Agricultural 
Department. It ended In my securing the work of 
" sampler " at the Experimental Farm. The work 
Included getting up at five o'clock every morning and 
going out to the barn and " sampling " and " weigh- 
ing " the milk from fifty odd cows. There were two 
of us that did this work. When there was nothing 
ahead we would help in the milking. This required 
about two hours in the morning. At five o'clock 
in the afternoon the same work had to be done. If 
any of the readers have ever done this kind of work 
they can well appreciate my circumstances. For re- 
muneration, I received fifteen cents an hour and was 
able to earn an average of twelve dollars a month, 
from which I paid my board. This consisted of one 
meal in a boarding house and two In my room. Al- 
though the work was rather undesirable in many re- 
spects, I have, nevertheless, many times thanked for- 
tune for it. On Saturdays, I had a job emptying 
ashes and carrying coal for a woman down town, and 
in the winter I kept her roof and walks clean. In 
this way I picked up a neat sum. I did this work 
all the first year of college. During the summer I 
was very fortunate in securing a position at the Ex- 
periment Station under Professor Washburn (the 
head of the Dairy Division) for $40 a month, work- 
ing nine hours a day. Along with this I kept my 
work at the farm so I managed to get $,^^ or more 
a month. Most of this I saved to help me in my 
sophomore year. 



College Men without Money ij 

When the three months' summer vacation was 
over, I still retained my work at the farm and kept 
it during the whole year. My father occasionally 
sent me a little money, and I got along as well as I 
could. During my sophomore year my uncle died 
and left me a small sum of money, but I used only 
$50 of it during my sophomore year. During my 
summer recess in that year I again worked for Pro- 
fessor Washburn on his books and experiment work. 
I received the immense wage of $45 a month, and 
still worked at the Farm, so I managed to obtain 
about $60 per month. I worked the whole three 
months, and then I decided to change my work. 

I went to see the student owner of the " College 
Store," Mr. I. H. Rosenberg, and obtained the work 
of clerk in the store at the salary of four dollars a 
week. I worked the whole year for that and it 
more than paid my board. The $125 saved during 
the summer paid my necessary bills. Then I re- 
ceived $100 more from my uncle's estate. 

In June I decided to buy the " College Store," as 
it was for sale, but how was I to pay $729 when I 
didn't have it? I wrote to a relative of mine in re- 
gard to the money, but he would not lend me the 
money without a note signed by myself, father and 
grandfather for security. I thought there must be 
another way to obtain It, so I went down town and 
conferred with Mr. G. D. Jarvis, a merchant In the 
city. He had known me for two years, and had 
taken a strong inte^-est in me, and after knowing my 



1 8 College Men without Money 

circumstances he told me he would lend me the 
money. Of course, I had no property to give, as se- 
curity ; but Mr. Jarvis knew me and took my note as 
security for the money wanted. I paid $600 
down for the store and gave a note for the balance, 
the first of June. So I became owner of the " Col- 
lege Store " for my senior year. During the sum- 
mer I went to Nova Scotia and worked in a cream- 
ery in Brookfield, doing the helper's work. I 
wanted to learn creamery work and I thought that 
was my opportunity; so I took it. I received" $12 
a month and board. I came back to college no 
richer financially, but richer in knowledge. I opened 
my store at the opening of school, and I earned 
enough to pay my expenses through my last year. I 
sold it in the spring to another student and paid Mr. 
Jarvis. 

I graduated in the class of 19 12, the first class 
graduated by President Guy Potter Benton, now of 
the University, I received the degree of Bachelor 
of Science in Agriculture. 

In June of my senior year I secured the position 
of teacher of Agriculture and the Sciences in one of 
the Vermont schools. I am still there, and enjoy 
my work very much. 

■Morrisville, Vermont, 



BROTHER HELPS BROTHER 

HENRY F. DRAPER, B.A. 

WHEN I graduated from the high school of 
Oswego, Kansas, in 1896 at the age of seven- 
teen, I had the ambition to attend college, the Uni- 
versity of Kansas in particular, which seemed to me 
to be the normal thing for a young man to do. My 
parents were in full accord, as their example and 
precept had always been favorable to as large a use 
of books as circumstances would allow. Though up 
to that time my every educational need had been 
met, it was recognized that my college training must 
come only after I had earned the money to provide 
it. I was the oldest of five children and my 
father's income was only that of a country doctor in 
a county seat, a town of 2500 inhabitants. 

Before her marriage my mother had taught 
school and many of her best friends and mine were 
teaching school at the time of my graduation from 
the high school. This and perhaps more particu- 
larly the further fact that I had received good 
grades at school seemed logically to suggest that 
by teaching school I should earn money for a col- 
lege education. But during the summer of 1896, 
and, again the next year, I sought in vain to per- 

19 



20 College Men without Money 

suade country school boards that I was the proper 
person to teach the youth of their district. They 
considered me rather young and forsooth lacking in 
experience, which I wa» seeking a chance to secure. 
And sa I was saved from becoming a poor school 
teacher. 

Opportunities as clerk, however, were offered and 
by the first of April, 1901, I had experiences in 
hardware, grocery, and shoe stores. The various 
changes were made through no fault of my own; 
but, though they were in the nature of promotions, 
the financial return was so slight that after five years 
I had perhaps, not more than $50 saved toward my 
cherished college career. 

On- April 15, 1901, I began work for a real es- 
tate loan company with duties but little more re- 
sponsible than a fifteen-year-old office boy might have 
discharged. The wages were small, but were soon 
advanced. In four years I was earning what was 
accounted a goodly amount for a town of that size. 
Though I had spent some money on vacation trips 
each summer and for necessary things throughout 
the year, I had saved a few hundred dollars. 

Meanwhile, my brother, two and a half years 
younger than I, had secured fairly remunerative 
work earlier in life than I had done. He, too, 
wanted a college education and had entered the Uni- 
versity of Kansas in September, 1901. As nearly 
as I can recall he had enough money to go through 
the first year without doing any outside work. Oc- 



College Men without Money 21 

casionally during the next three years I lent him 
money which he repaid when I was later in school; 
but in the main he supplemented his summers' earn- 
ings by strenuous activities during the school year. 
He was at different times steward of a boarding 
club, night clerk at a hotel, and one of the student 
assistants in the University library. His experiences 
and difficulties were really of more interest, and more 
particularly those of a student working his way 
through college than any I can relate of myself. 

In September, 1905, when twenty-six years old, I 
went to Lawrence, Kansas, and enrolled in the state 
university as a special student. I desired courses 
particularly in history and economics. As I ex- 
pected my college career to be limited to one year, 
I believed the special classification was advisable. 
Because I wished to study as much as possible I at- 
tempted no outside work, but I was economical in 
my expenditures. Yet I did not then, nor at any 
later time, deprive myself of a reasonable amount of 
recreation. 

At the close of school In June, 1906, I returned to 
my work in the real estate loan office in my home 
town. I was not satisfied with the extent of the 
schooling received. I kept under my ambition, how- 
ever, and laid aside my earnings again until Sep- 
tember, 1907. I then returned to the University and 
again enrolled as a special student. I started to 
earn my board by washing dishes, but after six 
weeks' trial I found that It took so much time that I 



22 College Men without Money 

quit outside work and gave myself wholly to study. 

The spell of the college was now strong upon me 
and I wanted to continue until I could secure a 
bachelor's degree. pTo so shape my course during 
the next three years as to correct the irregularities 
of my " special " course was a task, especially since I 
was now vitally in newspaper work and desired more 
courses in history and English than the schedule per- 
mitted for a regular student. 

Though I yet had money to my credit, I wanted 
to be able to aid my sister who started this year. 
Therefore, to earn my board, I served as table 
waiter at a club from September, 1908, to June, 1909. 
Meanwhile, my outside duties on the student news- 
paper and. in Y. M. C. A. work increased in addi- 
tion to the larger opportunities for profitable recrea- 
tion. Thus my life was growing strenuous. 

In an effort to keep down expenses, I started the 
fall of 1909 as associate steward of a club. Ill suc- 
cess attended me, and before Christmas I was pay- 
ing board. My work for the student newspaper 
brought me some slight return financially, but not 
commensurate with the time it took. I was also a 
member of the Y. M. C. A. cabinet this year. 

From September, 19 10, to my graduation in June, 
191 1, I gave a very considerable amount of time tO' 
my newspaper work and had more pay therefor; but 
at the end of my course I had borrowed several 
hundred dollars from a brother. I was on the Y. 
M, C. A. cabinet during this last year also. 



College Men without Money 23 

My university training has not prepared me for 
any get-rlch-quick career. Efforts since graduation 
to push ahead into a newspaper life have added to, 
rather than taken from, my debt. Nevertheless, I 
do not regret the plan of action which I followed to 
get a college education. I cannot estimate in dol- 
lars the satisfaction I have in the retrospect. I was 
not penurious with myself when in school, and so 
enjoyed life, even though always economical. The 
friendships formed and the larger vision of life 
which I now have compensate me for past difficul- 
ties and those yet to be overcome ere I can obtain 
such financial stability as I might have acquired six 
or more years ago if I had been content to continue 
in the real estate loan office of my home town. 

Oklahoma City, Okla. 



THE COLLEGE INSPIRATION 

FRANK R. DYER, A.B. 

MY first inspiration toward college came from 
a public school teacher by the name of 
Homer C. Campbell, now a successful business man 
of Portland, Oregon. Mr. Campbell was a gifted 
teacher, brimful of inspiration and helpful sugges- 
tions. 

My impression while I was a boy was that the 
rich only could get through college. My estimated 
amount of money needed was far beyond what I 
ever had seen together and was beyond my fond- 
est hopes. 

During the seven months of Mr. Campbell's stay 
with us, he taught us much not in the books. He 
made us realize that there were higher fields invit- 
ing us and the means to the end were within our 
reach. Before he left us he exacted a promise from 
me that I would go to college. I was very willing 
to promise, due to my confidence and admiration for 
the man; but, at this late date, I realized that far, 
far away was my hope to realize the goal. My old 
teacher did not let me forget my early ambitions, but 
took numerous opportunities to remind me of my 
promise. 

34 



College Men without Money 25 

After teaching a short term in the country and 
then serving as clerk more than a year In a country 
store, I quit the job with many misgivings and 
started for the Ohio Normal University, located at 
Ada, Ohio, — the school founded, and many years 
directed by that prince of educators. President Henry 
S. Lehr. I had all the queer sensations of a new 
boy In a strange school, but the experience is com- 
mon to all who will read these letters; so it will be 
unnecessary to repeat It here. 

I had one hundred and forty dollars as a nucleus 
that I had saved from two years' work. Three 
terms made up my first year. There were five terms 
in the year. I was able to get through three of 
them, and have a small amount of my capital left. 
I may add that the Ohio Normal was run for the 
benefit of the student body and a vacation was a 
very rare occurrence, and when it did occur, there 
was what was known as a " vacation term " for the 
students who did not have time to quit. In the 
town was my old teacher, who often had a kind 
word for me and always pointed to the day of grad- 
uation, a day which seemed too far away for me to 
consider. 

I taught school that winter. As soon as school 
closed I went back to the Normal, took a new start, 
and worked all summer till time for school to be- 
gin in the fall. So, by the plan of the Normal school, 
I was able to teach each winter and go to school 
from early in the spring till late in the fall, and 



26 College Men without Money 

still make the purse hold out. The high cost of liv- 
ing was not in evidence. I paid $1.40 a week for 
table board, and fifty cents for my room. This con- 
tinued till the purse came in a little stronger, and I 
went up to $1.60 a week. I may add that in my 
later years I got into the plutocrat class and paid 
$2.00 a week, but the room rent was the same. 
Two dollars per week was a regular Rockefeller 
rate for the Normal boys, but we lived well. Our 
wants increased as the years went by, but we were 
able to have some surplus left over each year, which 
was a very gratifying condition. Thus, by half year 
work and half year study, I was able to complete the 
classical course when the long hoped for day of 
graduation came. This is now history. My ambi- 
tion had been thoroughly aroused and I felt that I 
must now finish college. My surplus with a little 
that my brother lent me during the last few months 
in college was enough to take me through. As I 
look back over the road, I find only pleasant recol- 
lections of the college work, even though there were 
times when we bought our coal oil by the half gal- 
lon because it avoided a large Investment at one 
time in one commodity. 

We did not ride in automobiles then as many do 
now. Our only expense aside from lodging, board, 
and fuel, was to spend a few dollars for a good book 
now and then, and a few dollars more for lecture 
tickets. The lectures were of the best, by Joseph 
Cook, George Wendling, Sam Jones and men of that 



College Men without Money 27 

type. We must admit at this late date that our best 
girl beside us made the lectures more interesting 
and instructive than they could have otherwise been. 

Our temporal wants were few. and our intellectual 
opportunities, accordingly great. 

One time In traveling through the mountainous 
part of Kentucky the most conspicuous sights were 
the cabin on the barren hillside and the razor-back 
hog with the proverbial knot In his tail to keep him 
from running through the crack in the rail fences. 
I was so impressed with the simplicity of the life 
there that I said to a gentleman on the train near me, 
"How do these people ever supply their wants?" 
He replied in the characteristic English of the lo- 
cality, " Mister, they ain't got no wants." These 
people seemed to be happy. As I look back over 
my college work and experience when often the 
purse got down below the last nickel, I recall that 
our desires for knowledge were so paramount that 
we did not seem to have any wants. 

At this time of life I take off my hat from the 
place where the hair ought to grow to do honor to 
the Ohio Normal University, because it made it pos- 
sible for me and thousands of others to get inspira- 
tion for higher things. All honor to the Ohio Wes- 
leyan University, my later school, for its scholarly 
Instruction, its able professors, its college associa- 
tion, and above all its training in Christian manhood, 
a part of the curriculum never forgotten or neg- 
lected In the O. W. U. 



28 College Men without Money 

May the years deal kindly with all such as the 
president emeritus of the Ohio Normal who will 
still inspire youths to do their best, and reach out 
to the things beyond. Rewards have come to many 
of my professors in the Ohio Wesleyan University, 
but the memory of their lives and work remains. 

Any young man or woman who has no obligation 
but his own support can enjoy the advantages of 
the best educational institutions of this or the Old 
World and make every dollar of his expense inde- 
pendently. 

Wichita, Kansas. 



OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS 

VIOLA E. FRAZIER, A.B. 

FROM the very beginning my opportunities in 
school were very limited. L was the third 
child of a family of eight children. My parents 
were very poor and we older children had to work 
hard helping father fight the wolf from the door. 
Then too, father did not take the interest in send- 
ing us to school that he should have taken, although 
he was an educated man, and taught school nineteen 
years. He claimed that we could learn as much at 
home as we could at school. Holding to this theory 
he kept us at home. The theory might have worked 
well, if he had given us fixed hours for study and 
play; but instead of this he kept us at work on the 
farm all summer and fall. In winter he would cut 
and sell wood. Every morning, when the weather 
was not too severe, he took my two oldest brothers 
(and me too, when mother could spare me) to the 
woods to cut or saw a load of wood, while he hauled 
a load to town and sold it. Of course, I could not 
cut wood, but I could pull one end of a cross-cut 
saw equal to either one of my brothers. When the 
weather would not allow us to go to the woods, 
father made us study. 

29 



30 College Men without Money 

I had a yearning desire to learn to read and 
cipher. Still, like all other children, I liked to play, 
and devoted most of my time to it. One of my 
cousins, who lived near us, used to come over and 
play with us every Sunday. She would tell us what 
a good time she had at school. This made me anx- 
ious to go too, and I pleaded with father to let me 
go, but my pleading was all in vain. He said I 
would learn more mischief than anything else, and 
he was not going to send me. Mother saw that I 
would learn, if I only had an opportunity, and she, 
too, insisted on my going to school. Still father 
would not listen to the request. 

At the age of twelve I had never been inside of a 
schoolhouse. Mother saw that father was making 
a mistake by keeping me out of school. So she de- 
cided to send me without his consent. One day 
when father came to dinner, he did not see me and 
inquired where I was. Mother told him that I had 
gone to school. He hardly knew what to say or 
think; so at last he said (realizing that he was in 
the wrong) : " If she is determined to go to school, 
let her go, and let us see what she is going to do." 

The question then arose, how was I to get my 
books ? I knew father would not get them for me. 
I told my cousin (Miss Nettie Bruce) my situation, 
and she agreed to lend me her books the first year. 
After that I always raised turkeys or ducks enough 
to buy everything that I needed In school. 

I went to the public schools five sessions. During 



College Men without Money 31 

this time I made fairly good progress. An almost 
uncontrollable thirst for knowledge took possession 
of me. I was not satisfied unless I had a book in 
my hand. My teacher told me that I ought to go 
to college. I thought this was impossible. So I de- 
cided that I would teach the next year. 

During the summer Professor J. J. Lincoln, one 
of father's old schoolmates, paid us a visit. He in- 
sisted on my going to college. Father wanted to 
send me, but was not financially able. Professor 
Lincoln told him how I could go with very little 
cost to him. He told him that he could get me a 
position in the dining room, by which I could pay 
half of my board. He thought that father could 
certainly arrange to lend me the other half, and the 
college would wait until I finished for my tuition. 
This seemed reasonable, and after a little considera- 
tion father agreed to send me. 

On September 5, 1906, I started to Elon Col- 
lege, N. C. This was my first trip from home. 
The first few weeks were trying ones with me. The 
thought of being two hundred and fifty miles from 
home without money or friends was almost more 
than I could bear. But I plucked up courage enough 
to conquer the homesickness, and just determined to 
stay. It was not long before I began to make 
friends. 

I entered the sub-Freshman class. Had the 
faculty allowed me, I would have undertaken two 
years' work in one. I went there with the deter- 



32 College Men without Money 

mlnation to do all that my strength would permit. 
I managed to get them to allow me to take twenty- 
six hours' work a week. This gave me all that I 
could do. I did not have much time for pleasure 
like the other girls. As I was kept very busy, the 
time soon slipped away. 

On April 21 I received a telegram saying, 
" Mother is very ill. Come home at once." jThe 
next day I arrived at home and found her very ill. 
I knew that she could not live long. I sat by her 
bedside until the 9th of June, when God called her 
home. 

My hopes of ever receiving an education were 
now gone. As I was the oldest girl, and my young- 
est brother was only four years old, the responsi- 
bilities of the home and mother fell largely upon 
me. I tried to fill her place in my humble way the 
very best I knew, feeling that this was the only way 
that I could honor her. 

The next fall before school opened I made prep- 
aration for my younger brothers and sisters to enter 
school the first day. How I did wish that I could 
go too, but I knew that this was impossible, as father 
could not get anyone to keep house for him. Dur- 
ing the winter I devoted every spare minute that I 
could find to my books; but you may know that I 
did not find much spare time after sewing, cook- 
ing, washing, ironing and mending, and keeping the 
house straight for such a large family. Of course, 
my sisters helped me every evening and morning. 



College Men without Money 33 

The next year I decided to teach the public school 
just three miles away, where I could board at home, 
and look after the home affairs too. This year, by 
raising turkeys and teaching I cleared one hundred 
and fifty dollars, which was enough to pay half my 
board and other expenses (not including tuition)' 
for one year in college. 

Father was very anxious for me to go to col- 
lege now. Sister being seventeen years old, father 
said he thought that she could keep house. Still I 
felt that she could not, and that it was my duty to 
stay at home, but at the same time I was praying 
for an opportunity to go to school. Taking father's 
advice, the next fall I went back to Elon. 

The following spring, before I came home, sis- 
ter ran away and married. This made the way dif- 
ficult for me to go back to college, but father suc- 
ceeded In hiring a housekeeper, and I went back the 
next fall. Before I came home in the spring some- 
one had persuaded our housekeeper to leave us and 
keep house for him. Father tried in vain to get 
another. 

" Where there is a will there is a way." I never 
gave up the hope of an education. I did my best, 
and left the rest with Him, Who doeth all things 
well. He opened the way, led and directed, and I 
did the acting. The next fall, one week before col- 
lege opened, God sent one of my cousins to keep 
house for us until I should finish my college course. 

I continued waiting on the table in the college 



34 College Men without Money 

dining-room as long as I was in college. This paid 
half of my board bill. Father lent me the other 
half. During my vacation I raised chickens and 
turkeys enough to buy my clothes and books. I gave 
the college my note for my tuition. 

I graduated last spring and am now principal of 
the Holy Neck Graded School. I hope to clear 
enough money this year to pay my college tuition. 

Elkton, Va. 



THE DIGNITY OF SERVICE 

REV. MARTIN LUTHER FOX, A.B., A.M., D.D. 

I WAS born on a Michigan farm the third in a 
family of ten children. Some of the first words, 
the meaning of which I learned, were Debt, Mort- 
gage, and Interest. And I soon appreciated that the 
united toil of the entire household was required 
through the season to provide for interest and an- 
nual payments on the mortgage. We were happy, 
notwithstanding the scarcity of money. The pro- 
duce from the farm furnished us with an abundance 
of good food and we had cheap but comfortable 
clothing. With my brothers and sisters I attended 
the district school and completed my course in it at 
fifteen. Two or three young men of the neighbor- 
hood had gone to college and I was fully bent on 
going too. It never occurred to me that poverty 
was a barrier to a college course. I was large for 
my age. So I took a teacher's examination and was 
granted a certificate and taught a six months' term 
of country school, closing it seven days after I was 
sixteen. I boarded at home and received $130 for 
the six months. Half of this money I gave to my 
father and with the other half I entered and com- 

35 



36 College Men without Money 

pleted the spring term of the high school. During 
the winter evenings while I was teaching I studied 
Latin grammar and Jones' " First Latin Lessons." 
Hence I was able, with some help from my brother, 
to join the Latin class on entering the high school, to 
pass the examination at close of the term, and thus 
to have a year's Latin to my credit. I returned to 
school at the opening of the fall term, but left at 
Thanksgiving, when I returned home to teach the 
same school I had taught the previous winter. I re- 
ceived this time $120 for four months. I studied 
my Caesar evenings, and on reentering school in the 
spring found myself able to join the class and to 
maintain a passing grade. I always was needed on 
the farm as soon as school closed in June. There 
was a large hay crop and a wheat harvest of 75 to 
100 acres. Then followed plowing and prepara- 
tion of soil for fall seeding. But I generally found 
a few weeks and a few rainy days, that I could take 
for making money. I canvassed the country one 
summer selling a United States wall map. The 
price was $2.00, within the reach of the farmer's 
purse. I was quite successful in making sales, and 
the commission was good. Indeed, I regarded it a 
poor day In which I did not make five dollars, so 
that in two or three weeks I earned about $60, my 
capital for the coming school year. 

I entered college in the fall of 1883. I really 
had no money and had no hope of any financial help 
from home. During the summer I had earned 



College Men without Money 37 

enough to purchase a four years' scholarship, the 
value of which was $100, but which I secured at a 
reduced price. [This, together with good health and 
a hopefully inclined temperament, was my capital 
with which to begin my college course. I secured a 
room in the men's dormitory, and to obtain neces- 
sary furniture, I had to incur a debt of $16. The 
room was to cost me $ 1 2 per year. Of course, I had 
to have books and that increased my debt; but I 
was perfectly familiar with the word, for my whole 
previous life had been concerned with it. I did not 
worry. But with neither wheat nor potatoes grow- 
ing to pay my debt, I realized that the situation re- 
quired some attention. I noticed in a corner of the 
campus about fifteen cords of four foot beech and 
maple wood. I made inquiry and learned that it 
belonged to the college president. Then I called 
upon him and applied for the position of wood 
sawer to him. He asked me whether I had ever 
sawed wood. I replied truthfully that I had never 
sawed much, but that I knew how it was done. He 
said he would furnish the saw and the " horse " and 
that I would have to saw only enough each day to 
keep him supplied. That suited me, for it meant 
that I could have other contracts running at the same 
time. It took practically the whole winter to com- 
plete the work, sawing usually toward evening 
enough for the following day. My compensation in 
money was $20. But I was also facing the question 
of daily bread. I couldn't go to a boarding club 



38 College Men without Money 

for I had no money. There was a college boarding 
hall. I noticed that they kept a cow, and I con- 
ceived the idea that that cow might help support 
me. I applied to the matron and arranged that 
for feeding and milking the cow and running some 
errands (the telephone was not yet) I was to have 
my board. It seemed to me then that everything 
was favorable. I continued to earn my board in this 
way till towards the close of my sophomore year. 
Then, for what reason I do not now recall, I re- 
signed as milkman and secured a position to assist 
in the dining-room of a leading hotel. There was 
no specific contract as to how much I was to do. 
What was right in service for my board was left en- 
tirely to my judgment. But I recall that I aimed at 
one thing — punctuality. I do not remember ever 
to have been late. I remained there until I volun- 
tarily quit near the close of my senior year. I never 
had any misunderstanding with anyone while there ; 
was always treated well, and liked the place. The 
board, of course, was good — almost too good for 
a college student. 

A young man in college, though, must have collars 
and cuffs, and a cravat occasionally and new clothes. 
He will have laundry bills, and must have money for 
stationery and postage, if he writes home to mother 
weekly. Every young man who has a mother should 
do so. I was such a young man, and of necessity I 
was constantly alert for employment that would 
bring me needed money. My suit became shabby. 



College Men without Money 39 

I pondered what to do. I saw in the Sunday School 
Times an announcement of Dr. Trumbull's new book, 
" Teaching and Teachers," and sent for a copy and 
agent's terms. It sold for $1.50 and the commission 
was 60 cents per copy. I started out, and by putting 
in spare time for a week I earned enough to pur- 
chase the new suit. The college cistern needed 
cleaning. I took the contract for $3.50. It was a 
large cistern and supplied the drinking water for 
the dormitory students. There was about one foot 
of water in it the day I cleaned it. I hired a fellow 
for $1.00 to hoist the buckets and I went down into 
it and scrubbed it clean. We finished about sunset. 
The authorities concluded to lay a new conducting 
pipe from the dormitory to the cistern, a distance of 
about fifteen feet. While we were cleaning they 
tore the old one out. Just as we finished, the college 
president came along and peered down at me. 
" Ah," said he, " how nice and clean. Now pray 
for rain." " No, no," exclaimed the registrar, who 
had overheard him, " don't you see we have not laid 
the new conductor pipe ? Wait till that is laid before 
you pray." There was no sign of rain. We felt 
perfectly secure in leaving it; but that night there 
came a great storm with a terrific downpour. The 
water collected from the dormitory roof was dis- 
charged into that open clay ditch in which the new 
conducting pipe was to be laid and thence flowed in 
a dashing stream into the cistern. At sun-up there 
was four feet of water and clay in the cistern. I 



40 College Men without Money 

had another contract at $5.00 that day, and I wrote 
on the fly-leaf of my trigonometry that night, " God 
helps those who help themselves," and I've believed 
It ever since. 

Let no one think I had no fun. The memory of 
my college days is decidedly pleasant. I found time 
to play ball. I was a member of the college male 
quartette and of the Choral Union. I always at- 
tended the college lecture and entertainment course. 
I was a member of one of the literary societies, and 
was frequently on the program of great public dem- 
onstrations of college oratory. I never was con- 
scious of any slight because I worked. On gradua- 
tion day Ex-president Rutherford B. Hayes ad- 
dressed our class. Some things he said seemed in- 
tended for me. He spoke of the Dignity of Work. 
He said many people had hands and didn't know 
how to use them. It was really an appeal for man- 
ual training, a phase of education not then In vogue, 
but to which advanced educators were turning at- 
tention. But I had had it all as an extra. I had 
read Latin, Greek, and German with my classmates. 
I had traversed the historical centuries in their com- 
pany. I had struggled with them on conic sections 
and had lounged with them in logarithms. They 
were my equals and superiors in all these, but I had 
the advantage — I had taken Manual Training. 
There were some points of contact around that col- 
lege and campus that / only had touched. To be 
sure it was of necessity, but it was a blessing, never- 



College Men without Money 41 

theless. I have not yet lived to see the hour that I 
have regretted that I worked my way through 
college. 

St. Joseph, Mich. 



A HAPPY MISFORTUNE 

HON. BURTON L. FRENCH, A.B., PH.M. 

BURTON L. FRENCH of Moscow, Idaho, 
who is now serving his fifth term as represen- 
tative in Congress, was born on a farm near Delphi, 
Ind., August I, 1875, of Charles A. and Mina P. 
(Fischer) French. In 1880 the family moved 
farther west and lived two and a half years near 
Kearney, Nebraska, where young Burton attended 
four terms of three months each, in the country 
schools. When he was seven years of age, his peo- 
ple moved to the Northwest, living part of the time 
in the State of Washington and part of the time in 
Idaho. At the age of fifteen, Mr. French had com- 
pleted, In the Palouse, Wash., public schools, a 
course practically equivalent to our present public 
school course, including the first year of high school 
work. From this period in his life, he worked his 
way through the preparatory school and through 
college, taking the degree of A.B. at the University 
of Idaho in 1901, and the degree of Ph.M., at the 
University of Chicago in 1903. 



43 



College Men without Money 43 

HOW AND WHY HE WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH 
COLLEGE. 

Mr. French says: "As one of the older children 
in a large family, the responsibilities that rested upon 
my father and mother at the time I was ready to 
take up educational work preparatory to entering 
college, and as well later, to carry through a course 
in college, were such that I was thrown upon my 
own resources. 

" Two of the chief circumstances that attended 
my early life were : — 

" I. That of being required as a boy to perform 
under the direction of my father and mother, a rea- 
sonable amount of wholesome manual labor, largely 
the kind that is required of the ordinary farmer's 
boy. 

" 2. That at the age of sixteen, I was thrown upon 
my own resources in the matter of continuing my 
educational work. 

" My parents, aside from teaching me respect for 
manual labor and in a large degree helping me to be 
proficient in the same, inspired me with the ambi- 
tion to complete a college course. I did not regard 
the fact that I would need to work my way through 
college as in any way an embarrassment, and I do 
not recall ever having had the wish that my people 
could send me through college. 

" Before reaching my eighteenth year, I had been 
able to attend the preparatory department of the 



44 College Men without Money 

University of Idaho for six months and had earned 
the money to carry me through this period by serv- 
ing as clerk In a general merchandise store and by 
working In hotels as a waiter. 

" Following the close of the term of school, I 
found work as a waiter during the summer months, 
and In September following my eighteenth birthday 
I began teaching In a country school. During the 
succeeding eight years I completed the work in the 
preparatory school and a college course in the Uni- 
versity of Idaho, leading to the degree of A.B., earn- 
ing most of the money that I required to pay my 
expenses by teaching school and at periods when 
there was no employment In this field, by working 
upon a farm. 

" My circumstances required that I take my college 
course by doing part of a year's work at a time and 
I was able to attend college from the opening of the 
college year in the fall until the close of the college 
year in the spring, only once during my college 
course and that was during my junior year. Dur- 
ing the period, too, I was away from college two 
years In succession, serving during this time as prin- 
cipal of the public schools at Juliaetta, Idaho. 

" During the latter portion of my undergraduate 
years, I was able to do a small amount of tutoring 
in the preparatory department of the University, and 
as well, at one time earned my board by managing 
a boarding club that accommodated from twenty-five 
to sixty students and faculty members. In order to 



College Men without Money 45 

remain in college and complete my senior year with 
my class, it was necessary for me to borrow a small 
amount of money, which I was able to do, without 
imposing upon anyone else the responsibility of 
standing as my security. 

" Prior to completing my senior year in the Uni- 
versity of Idaho, I had been elected a Fellow in 
the Political Science Department of the University 
of Chicago. My fellowship, supplemented by a 
small amount of money which I borrowed, enabled 
me to do postgraduate work in that institution, lead- 
ing to the degree of Ph.M., which I received In 1903. 

" It is proper to say that during my undergraduate 
days I was able to do certain classes of work while 
engaged in teaching that helped me materially in 
carrying my college work upon returning to the Uni- 
versity. For Instance, one spring I made my her- 
barium, collecting, mounting and classifying the 
plants required to be assembled by each student in 
botany. 

" Not only was this work of benefit to me, but it 
was of intense interest to every boy and girl in the 
country surrounding my school. Many were the 
children making herbariums of their own, who would 
assume an air of superior importance In comparing 
themselves with their fellows who did not accept the 
names anemone-nemorosa in lieu of wind flower, 
ranunculus ranunculace^e in place of buttercup, and 
the common variety of the saxifrage family as 
philadelphus-grandiflorus Instead of mock orange. 



46 College Men without Money 

This was the most clear-cut piece of work that I 
probably did outside of the classroom, though In his- 
tory, mathematics, and the languages, I was able to 
do a large amount of work that made It possible for 
me to carry with less difficulty the classroom work 
upon returning to the University. 

" Another thing that Is quite as Important as the 
manner In which I earned the money to carry me 
through college, Is the manner In which I spent It. 
The high cost of living was a serious problem, and 
having obtained my money In serious manner, I 
necessarily measured Its value with much care, and 
during more than half of my years In the prepara- 
tory and undergraduate school, I found it necessary 
to be a member of a bachelors' club made up of stu- 
dents, who, like myself, were working their way 
through college. In this way we were able to lower 
the expenses of living considerably. 

" In the letter from the author of ' College Men 
without Money,' Mr. Riddle In referring to me as 
one who had worked his way through college, spoke 
of me as among that fortunate class, and I regard 
his phrase as a very happy one. Probably the brief 
recital of my experiences and the way in which I 
earned money to complete my college course, may 
mean little or nothing to anyone other than myself. 
To me, however, the working my way through col- 
lege Is a positive asset, and as I said in the begin- 
ning of this sketch, I regard It as one of the most 
fortunate circumstances of my life." 

Moscow, Idaho. 



FINDING ONE'S PLACE 

IRWIN W. GERNERT, A.B. 

THE problem of a college education confronts 
many young people. We have many col- 
leges, but how to obtain a college education is a 
vital question to many high school graduates and 
others who have not the money. Here are the col- 
leges and the teachers, but many do not have the 
funds on which to go. This is the decisive hour, as 
here it is that one decides to climb the hill or re- 
main at the foot. 

My experience in working my way through col- 
lege is not peculiar, but tallies with the experience 
of hundreds who have undertaken the same task. 
If a person is determined to get an education he will 
succeed, and herein lies the keynote to the prob- 
lem. 

It was my fortune to attend a college situated in 
a small town, as such locations are always best for, 
the one who has to make his way. Work was easily 
secured, and as my desire was to get an education by 
my labor, I seized every opportunity for making 
a dime. Serving as janitor, making fires in the 
early morning hours, raking snow and ice from the 
college walks in the winter, raking leaves on the 

47 



48 College Men without Money 

campus In the fall and spring, serving as clerk on 
Saturdays and other work of this kind paid my way. 
But that which gave me the inspiration for all this, 
and made the task easy, was the one great purpose 
of preparing for the gospel ministry. 

I have finished the A.B. course In Wittenberg 
College, Springfield, Ohio, and was better off finan- 
cially the day of my graduation than the day on 
which I entered. There Is work for him who de- 
sires It. There Is always a place In life which we 
should fill, and the finding of that place Is an epoch 
in our lives, and the preparation for it is what makes 
the event memorable and life-lasting. 

Louisville, Ky. 



" THE TAR HEEL " 

H. B. GUNTER, A.B. 

THE why: I wanted a college education. 
The how: By sticking type, kicking the 
8x12 Gordon jobber, feeding the old Babcock 
drum cylinder, yanking the lever of the paper cut- 
ter (which usually had a dull knife), doctoring the 
ramshackle old engine in the print shop of The Uni- 
versity Press at Chapel Hill, N. C, and working 
fourteen and sixteen hours a day, — and enjoying it, 
too — on rare occasions, especially when there was 
a ball game on the " the Hill." 

Later, when I came to be manager of the shop, 
the principal part of my work, at times, was find- 
ing new and novel excuses for not getting the work 
out on time. I am not sure, but I am inclined to 
think that I did my full share of creative work in 
that field, a field in which imagination has done and 
is doing wonders. I believe that I may safely re- 
fer to Acting-President E. K. Graham, Dr. Archi- 
bald Henderson, Dr. George Howe, Dr. L. R. Wil- 
son, Professor N. W. Walker and other members 
of the University faculty for testimonials along this 
line. Certainly they will bear me out in the state- 

49 



50 College Men without Money 

ment that I always had an excuse ready; also that 
I usually needed one. 

The smell of the print shop had been in my nos- 
trils since I was a mere youngster. I " learned the 
case " on The Express, at Sanford, N. C. ; graduated 
Into the shop of Cole Printing Company, In the 
same town; worked for a short time in one or two 
other shops, and so when I started for Chapel Hill 
In the fall of 1904, fired with enthusiasm by glowing 
tales of Hfe on " the Hill," I felt that I was fairly 
well equipped to earn my living and get an educa- 
tion. 

I might state, parenthetically, that the enthusiasm 
lasted almost to University Station. It came back 
later with compound Interest; but when I first set 
foot on Chapel Hill soil I did not stand calmly and 
survey the world that I had come to conquer. In 
fact, the conquering Instinct In my manly breast was 
distinctly dormant. 

I was armed with fifty dollars, enough to pay the 
registration fees and to give me a feeble shove. The 
above soon lost Its force, however, and it was up to 
me to dig, which I did. There may be poetry and 
there may be glory In working your way through col- 
lege, but I found that It consisted mostly of digging. 

I got along fairly well with my school work dur- 
ing my freshman year. I earned enough money, 
lacking just five dollars, besides my Initial fifty, to 
pay my expenses, but I didn't luxuriate noticeably. 
I did, however, learn to study. 



College Men without Money 51 

It was well that I had learned this. During the 
summer I received the appointment as manager of 
the print shop at Chapel Hill. And then my trou- 
bles began in earnest. I used to examine my head 
before going to bed, to discover if my hair had 
turned white during the day. 

The shop handled six or seven university publica- 
tions, ranging from the weekly students' paper to 
the annual catalogue, in addition to a goodly amount 
of job work. The work, all except the binding, was 
done by students. Their work at best was irreg- 
ular. The supply of printer-students was always 
short. The university authorities gave free tuition 
to the boys in the shop, but there never were enough 
of them on hand to keep up with the work properly. 
It was owing to this fact that I was compelled to de- 
velop the excuse-making part of my imagination. 
Oh, it was a man-sized job. And I was just turned 
nineteen, and the little blue devils were constantly 
on the job. It was probably very fine training. 
But it was also rather fierce. 

But never mind. The job carried with it a reg- 
ular salary, ridiculously small, but enough to fur- 
nish the necessities and a luxury now and then. I 
learned to crowd much work into a given period of 
time. I learned the value and limitations of run- 
ning a bluff. I learned to love some of the faculty 
men, who were patient with the shortcomings of the 
shop. Also I got off my school work in pretty good 
shape. 



^2 College Men without Money 

My junior year was not so bad. I had learned 
that it was not a hanging crime for a publication to 
come out late- — although some of the editors seemed 
to think so. I had a better and larger force of stu- 
dent printers, and I had more time for recreation. 
Also my salary had been increased so that I never 
had to worry about my board bill. 

At the beginning of my senior year, having been 
elected editor of The Tar Heel, the college weekly, 
I resigned as manager and borrowed a little money. 
I did some work in the shop, enough to keep me 
from forgetting that I was a horny-handed son of 
toil, and associated (euphemism for loafed) with 
my fellows more, and played a little football — and 
made marks that were not nearly so good as those 
I had made in the days of my labor. 

Altogether, though I wouldn't care to go through 
with it again, the work there was good for me. It 
was hard at times, mighty hard. But the old shop 
was a God-send to me, as it has been a God-send to 
many another young fellow, who owes his college 
training to the opportunity offered there. 

Greensboro, N, C, 



NO WORK TOO HARD 

REV. JOHN S. HALFAKER, B.A. 

ON January 7, 1902, after a long and hard sum- 
mer's work on the farm I determined to 
enter college and prepare myself educationally for 
the Christian ministry. I had carefully saved the 
earnings from my summer's work, which was my 
first away from home. My accumulations amounted 
to one Crescent bicycle, a trunk jElled with the kind 
of clothing that a green country lad would get when 
making his first purchases in the average " Jew 
Store," and one hundred and twenty dollars in cash. 
I felt that with this I would be able to become estab- 
lished and be in a position to earn my way. My 
intentions were good and my faith was strong. 

Having seen in the Herald of Gospel Liberty the 
announcement that any honest industrious young 
man who desired a college education could attend 
Defiance College a whole year for one hundred and 
ten dollars, I thought, here was my chance. Surely 
if such a young man could go to college for the 
amount named above I was running no serious risk 
In undertaking to go from January to June on that 
amount. My eagerness increased. 

53 



54 College Men without Money 

Now, it was almost two hundred miles from my 
home to Defiance, Ohio. This was a long journey 
for a lad of my makeup to take on his own initiative 
and under protest of many friends. But amid 
showers of tears and volumes of good advice my 
mind was made up, and no one was happier than I 
when the time came to start. 

At eight-thirty o'clock I arrived in the historic 
old town of Defiance, reputed far and wide for its 
mud and natural scenery. I shall never forget the 
old board walks. It was dark and the rain was com- 
ing straight down. No one met me at the train for 
I had sent no herald to announce my arrival. I 
mounted the old hack and made my way straight to 
the College. At that time the institution did not be- 
long to the Christian denomination. Really you 
would have thought it didn't belong to anyone. Dr. 
John R. H. Latchaw was the President and Rev. P. 
W. McReynolds was Dean. Dr. Latchaw was out 
of the city and when I arrived at the college Dean 
McReynolds met me at the door. He received me 
and welcomed me In his characteristic manner and 
proceeded at once to enroll me as a student. I was 
soon enrolled, had my tuition paid, and was on my 
way in company with the Dean to find a room. By 
nine o'clock I was located and had partially unpacked 
my trunk. That was " all glory " for me. 

I was out for business, therefore it was my busi- 
ness to be out. My plans were laid to be regular 
and persistent in my work, so, no sooner were we 



College Men without Money 55 

located, than I was on my way down town to pur- 
chase an alarm clock. 

Not only did I need the College but the College 
needed me, as luck would have it. The basement 
was full of four- foot wood (cord wood), which 
must be made ready for four small heaters in va- 
rious rooms of the building. It was in the base- 
ment of the College building that I took my physi- 
cal culture each evening and on Saturdays, with a 
cash dividend of twenty-five cents for each cord of 
wood I cut. Soon we had all the wood cut, and I 
was out of a job. But my attention was called to 
the fact that more wood was needed at my room, and 
that it was my turn to furnish the supply. I in- 
quired and found that if I would walk out in the 
country about three miles I could have the privilege 
of chopping up the dead timber for the wood. On 
Saturday mornings I shouldered my ax and saw and 
made for the woods. Many was the day that I 
chopped entirely with the ax all day, with four cords 
of fine wood in the rick at night and a good supply 
of tired and sore muscles. We were able to get the 
wood hauled in at twenty-five cents a cord. I had 
my supply of wood for our room, and sold about ten 
cords to other students who had more money than 
desire to exercise after the woodman's fashion. I 
would deliver the wood evenings at $1.50 a cord. 
This gave me some spending money. 

June came and I was getting along well, when one 
day after supper at the club I engaged in a wrestling 



^6 College Men without Money 

match which resulted in a broken arm. All my plans 
were broken In a moment. My work was at an end 
for the summer. After commencement I returned 
home and spent the summer doing errands and 
chores with no financial income. 

During the summer I was notified that the Col- 
lege would be removed from Defiance, Ohio, 
to Muncie, Indiana, about fifty miles from my home, 
and that the school would be known as Palmer Uni- 
versity. I was urged to come to Muncie early and 
enroll In the new Institution. No sooner did I re- 
ceive the word than I mounted my bicycle and ped- 
dled my way over to Muncie to see what arrange- 
ments I could make to earn my way. (The Presi- 
dent arranged for me to become advertising solicitor 
and business manager of the University Bulletin. 
This was a new line of work for me, and it was with 
some hesitancy that I took hold of the work. But 
I was In no condition for physical labor ; so gave my- 
self the advantage of a doubt and went to work at 
once. I was very successful and cleared about forty 
dollars, which those In charge seemed to think was 
too large an Income for a student and began at once 
to curtail the contract. This was not at all pleasing 
to me. 

In the meanwhile the effort to remove the College 
from Defiance to Muncie had failed. The citizens 
of Defiance arose In arms, elected Dean McRey- 
nolds President of the College, put up a consider- 
able cash guaranty and began an enthusiastic can- 



College Men without Money 57 

vass for students and money. The College at De- 
fiance became the property of the Christian Church, 
and a definite campaign for funds was instituted and 
carried forward by President McReynolds. All the 
old students were at once communicated with and 
urged to return. I was acquainted at Defiance and 
was only waiting for an opportunity to return. 

President McReynolds remembered the farmer 
lad who could handle the saw and the ax so well. 
He wrote me that if I would come to Defiance he 
would give the position of janitor at a salary of 
seven dollars per month and that I could room in 
the College building and board myself. I thought 
that I would be able to earn something in addition, 
so I sat down and answered the letter at once, stat- 
ing the train on which I would arrive. 

When I reached Defiance I thought it the most 
beautiful spot in all the earth. I felt like the prod- 
igal son when he came in sight of his father's house. 
President McReynolds met me about two blocks from 
the campus and with suit-case in hand we went to the 
College. In less time than it takes to write it we 
had gone over the work and I was employed as jan- 
itor of the College, a position which I held for two 
long school years. My arm was weak and tender, 
but the work was not slighted. At the close of each 
month I received a check for seven dollars. The 
smile that played over the President's face was 
worth more than the check. He simply wouldn't let 
a fellow get discouraged or give up. 



58 College Men without Money 

Of course, It was impossible to get along on seven 
dollars a month, even if one had no room-rent to 
pay and boarded himself, so I was compelled to earn 
something besides. I undertook the laundry agency, 
which the first week netted me the snug sum of ten 
cents. But by the following June my commissions 
amounted to from two and a half to three and a half 
dollars each week. It was a good business indeed 
for a student. At the same time I was college li- 
brarian and in this way earned a part of my tuition. 
My work was very heavy, Indeed, but I had never 
failed to make the grade; so I felt that the only 
honorable way out was to go straight ahead. 

In the fall of 1903 I applied to the Northwestern 
Ohio Conference for a license to preach, which was 
granted. I began by supplying wherever oppor- 
tunity afforded. I did not drop any of the work I 
had been doing, but during the remaining college 
course I supplied the pulpits of over forty different 
churches. Sometimes they more than paid my ex- 
penses, and again I bore my own expenses. In the 
fall of 1904 I accepted the pastorate of two churches 
in connection with my college work. All the time 
I was compelled to do at least a part of the work 
at the College. In January of 1905 when I engaged 
in special meetings with my churches it was impossi- 
ble for me to carry the work at the College. I then 
left school and accepted the pastorate of the third 
church. In July of 1905 I married and moved to 
Wakarusa as pastor of the Christian Church there. 



College Men without Money 59 

I served that church for a period of two years, after 
which I resigned to complete my course at the Col- 
lege. I moved to Defiance and served two churches 
during the school year of 1907—8, and graduated in 
June of 1908. I am proud of my Alma Mater, and 
since my graduation I have had the honor of being 
president of our Alumni Association. 

In September of 1908 I was called to serve the 
Christian Church at Lima, Ohio, as pastor. I con- 
tinued for just four years. I then received and ac- 
cepted a call to the pastorate of the First Christian 
Church of Columbus, Ohio. 

These have been years of toil and sacrifice and 
joy. ;Though much of the way seemed dark, I have 
been conscious of the guidance of an unseen hand all 
the way. 

Columbus, Ohio. 



CULTIVATING SIDE LINES 

PROFESSOR DANIEL BOONE HELLER, A.B. 

I WAS born January 19, 1888, on a small farm 
near Ladora, Iowa County, Iowa. My first 
nine years were care free, with no responsibility ex- 
cept school and play. In the spring of my tenth year 
my mother died, and there being a large family it was 
difficult for father to keep the children together 
thereafter. In the following fall I, with two 
younger brothers and a sister, was placed in the care 
of the Iowa Children's Home at Des Moines, Iowa. 
In the following February I was " bound out " to a 
big ranchman in South Dakota. 

Tagged as a sack of sugar, stating my name, from 
whence I came, and my destination, I was ushered 
aboard a Milwaukee train, only too soon to reach 
my new home on the Dakota prairie. Very soon 
after my arrival upon the ranch, I was informed that 
the purpose of my presence there was not for orna- 
ment but for work. I also very early realized that 
my portion of the work was not Imaginary. Dur- 
ing the second summer, my assignment was to milk 
ten cows twice daily and to spend the rest of the 
eighteen hours of the working day in the harvest 

60 



College Men without Money 6i 

field. I did not, however, complain about the 
amount of work that I had to do, but I did object 
to the kind of treatment that was accorded to me. 
Being but eleven years of age, I did not have the 
judgment of a man, and I suffered for it. I shall 
carry through life scars of that old raw-hide whip, — 
and they did not come by chance. Believing that I 
was not adapted to ranch life, I decided to take an 
extended leave of absence. On the 5th of August, 
1899, before daybreak, unknown to anybody, I 
started on my journey. All day under a scorching 
sun I tramped the dusty road westward across the 
prairie. Tired, penniless, and half starved, I begged 
food and lodging of a family late in the evening. 
I told them my story, and winning their sympathy 
I remained with them several weeks. 

After an absence of about two years, I returned to 
Iowa County, only to find that my old home was no 
more. My father, older brother, and sisters were 
each supporting themselves, and I must do likewise. 
For seven years I made my home with an old sol- 
dier, who lived near Ladora. I worked during each 
summer, and very profitably spent the short winters 
at the yellow schoolhouse located in the woods. In 
the fall of my eighteenth year I entered the high 
school at Ladora. The school was small, not ac- 
credited, hence the advantages offered were much In- 
ferior to those of larger schools. Believing that I 
could make better progress elsewhere, I entered the 
Iowa Wesleyan Academy in the fall of 1907. It 



62 College Men without Money 

was here that I first came In contact with the real 
struggle for an education. I had often dreamed of 
college life and its opportunities. Now my visions 
were beginning to be realized, but not without effort. 
I entered the Iowa Wesleyan Academy with three 
hundred dollars and an ambition; after graduating 
from the Academy, I had only an ambition. My 
money was gone, and there were four years of col- 
lege life yet before me; but my ambition was only 
bigger. My willingness to work and my good 
health were the factors which made my education 
possible. 

Upon my arrival at Wesleyan I had a very cordial 
introduction to a Hershey Hall dishpan and we very 
soon became intimate. In addition to the dishwash- 
ing, I mowed lawns, tended furnaces, swept houses, 
and even did family washing. I was there for an 
education and determined to get It at any cost. Dur- 
ing my first summer vacation I followed the worn 
trail of the canvasser, to return with some valuable 
experience and little profit. During my second sum- 
mer I was given employment with a Chautauqua 
system as tent hand. I am now serving my fifth 
consecutive season, having been promoted to ad- 
vance diplomat. The Chautauqua affords employ- 
ment for about ten weeks during the summer and an 
opportunity to hear the very best talent on the Amer- 
ican platform. pThe experience in Chautauqua work 
has been worth as much to me as two years or more 
in college. I value very highly Indeed the privilege 



College Men without Money 63 

of coming into personal contact with such men as 
Senator Gore, and Hon. W. J. Bryan. 

While listening to these masters of the platform, 
I conceived the idea of lecturing on my own account. 
Realizing my lack of ability to compile an original 
lecture, I secured a note-book, wrote down every- 
thing I heard. After collecting for two summers I 
arranged my stories in series under the caption of 
" Chips and Whittlings." I had printed a lot of 
advertising material, and posing as a humorist, 
I began my platform career. Some of my friends 
laughed at my undertaking, while others commended 
my nerve; but it was easier bread and butter than 
sawing wood. I had to do one or the other, so I 
stuck to the platform. Without serious neglect to 
my college work, I had by the end of that school 
year realized a profit of three hundred dollars above 
expenses. After another summer I compiled an- 
other lecture entitled " Scrap Iron." My people 
did not fall over each other to hear my lectures, yet 
I usually made good and have even filled a number 
of return dates. 

I cannot remember when or how I received the 
inspiration to attain a college education. I entered 
with a determination to win; to win not only a de- 
gree, but every experience possible. In many ways 
I have won, but not because of my ability; only by 
hard and persistent work. Three times I repre- 
sented Iowa Wesleyan in debate; twenty-two times 
I fought for her laurels upon the gridiron ; and, last 



64 College Men without Money 

year, representing Wesleyan In the Iowa State Ora- 
torical Contest, I carried the purple and white to vic- 
tory. I served as president of the Hamline Liter- 
ary Society; was for three years a member of the Y. 
M. C. A. Cabinet, one year as president; a mem- 
ber of a Gospel team; and a student member of the 
Forensic League. In my sophomore year I won 
the debating medal. In my senior year I was 
awarded the national degree in the Pi Kappa Delta, 
an honorary forensic fraternity. I was charter 
member of the Sigma Kappa Zeta fraternity, which, 
during my senior year, was granted a charter by 
the national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. My ac- 
tivities were not, however, confined to college alone. 
My college life at Iowa Wesleyan has truly been 
full of many and varied experiences. Believing that 
old motto, " We are rewarded according to our ef- 
forts," I resolved always to do my best, and the re- 
sults have not been disappointing. While study- 
ing constitutes a big part of college, yet I am con- 
vinced that books alone are by no means all of an 
education. In college I have ever striven for the 
practical. I now possess two degrees, one from the 
college of Liberal Arts, the other from the col- 
lege of " Hard Knocks." I know what I have ; 
but more than that, I know the price that it cost. 
I pride myself as being one of the fortunates who 
has worked his entire way through college. 

Batavia, Iowa. 



A SMILING SELF-RELIANCE 

REV. BISHOP EDWIN H. HUGHES, A.B., A.M., 
S.T.B., S.T.D., D.D., LL.D. 

WHEN I was nineteen years of age, I con- 
cluded that It was no longer right to ask my 
father to continue my support while I was a college 
student. It simply meant going in debt for him. 
I preferred, If It were necessary, to assume the debt 
myself. I then began to plan to maintain myself 
during the remaining five years of my collegiate and 
professional courses. 

I was able to do this without any particular dif- 
ficulty. I do not have the slightest reason to pose 
as a hero In the transaction. I made considerable 
money by securing the agency for a photograph gal- 
lery In a large city not very distant from the Col- 
lege. I added to my funds likewise by getting out 
certain advertisements for a lecture course, being 
paid a fair commission on all advertisements se- 
cured. I preached occasionally also as a supply and 
received some remuneration for this work. In ad- 
dition to these three sources of Income, in my senior 
year I received some prize money, which was a very 
great help. My last two years in the theological 
seminary I was able to support myself entirely and 

65 



66 College Men without Money 

to add very largely to my working library by taking 
the pastorate of a small church. Indeed, while I 
was in the seminary, I managed to pay off all the 
debt that I had incurred while going through col- 
lege. ^ 

It is my deliberate opinion that the poor boy in 
America has even a better chance for an education 
than the wealthy boy. This observation grows out 
of the experience of my student days, and likewise 
out of my experience as a college president. The 
poor boy is much more likely to present over the 
counter those higher purchase-prices than are ab- 
solutely necessary in the securing of an education. 
Given strong purpose and good health, there is no 
reason why the average American youth should not 
go through college. 

My final word on the subject would be this: 
Some young fellows who "work their way" through 
are a little too apt to do considerable whining and 
to put themselves in the attitude of claiming sym- 
pathy. I do not believe that this mood has a good 
effect on character. A smiling self-reliance will 
represent a much more winning attitude. 

I shall be happy if these few words shall prove in 
the least degree inspiring to any of our American 
youth and shall add even one good life to that pro- 
cession that moves toward our higher institutions of 
learning. 

San Francisco, Cat. 



A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE 

REV. A. B. KENDALL, D.D. 

I AM not a self-made man. I doubt If any man 
is. I guess I was born with a love for books. 
I did not make that. I learned to read, so I have 
been told, by bringing a book to my mother and ask- 
ing her the names of the letters and what they 
spelled. I recall with a pleasure, that has never 
lost Its peculiar charm through the years, a visit at 
the home of a neighbor when I was not yet three 
years of age and the placing in my hands of a blue 
covered book with pictures of birds and animals in 
it. The feeling of dehght, the thrill of joy, the 
profound Impression of that one day and incident 
have never left me. I love a book still. Just to 
feel it, let alone peruse it, is like caressing a loved 
one. 

I possess, I always have possessed, an unusually 
good memory. I did not make that. I was nat- 
urally observant. No credit can accrue to me from 
that source. I loved to learn. Some grammarians 
may differ with me in the use of the word " love," 
but let them; I do not care. It may be because they 
have never loved In that way. I must have inher- 
ited that. I was passionately fond of music. An- 

67 



68 College Men without Money 

other day stands out across the years as memory 
travels back, when as a boy of eight or nine years of 
age I traveled from the little log cabin on the farm 
where I lived to the nearest town, three miles away, 
with a pail of blackberries on my arm which I 
peddled from door to door. In my travels I found 
myself in the vicinity of a group of line brick and 
stone buildings which I knew instinctively was the 
State Normal School and from within the walls of 
that building there floated strains of heavenly music. 
It may have been some pupil practicing scales, I 
know not; but this I do know, it was celestial to me, 
and I see that boy In poor, shabby clothes, but neat 
as mother's love could make them, barefooted, tired, 
dusty, standing there with the big tears running 
down his cheeks, his heart filled with an inexpres- 
sionable longing to be able to play like that, and 
with it a desire to go to school and obtain an educa- 
tion. I did not make that desire. 

And then at the back of and under and through all 
the woof of every man's life, if he be not blind, he 
can see, or If he be not dishonest and will acknow- 
ledge It, there ever runs the warp of the wonderful 
influences of other lives and the strange providential 
guidings which do more than anything else to make 
men and women. 

Supreme among these Influences, as in most men's 
lives, was the influence of my sainted mother, whose 
self-sacrifice for her boy, who so many times was so 
unworthy of it, has been the most potent factor in 



College Men without Money 69 

helping me achieve whatever of real success I may 
have attained. 

My mother was a widow left with six children, 
five of whom were at home. The youngest was a 
girl less than two years of age, another was under 
four, and I was not yet six years of age. We moved 
at the time of her widowhood from the city to my 
grandfather's farm. Grandfather had died and 
grandmother was left with no one to care for the 
farm. My brother and I were the farmers. He 
was fifteen years of age and I was about six. The 
country school was a mile and a half from our home. 
I went winters rather irregularly, for the cold weather 
and deep snows of northwestern Pennsylvania In 
those days made it well-nigh impossible to attend reg- 
ularly. In the summer there was the farm work 
which prevented my getting the benefit of the sum- 
mer term. But I studied and read not with any 
definite aim, but just because I liked to study and 
read. Grandmother's death and the sale of the old 
farm when I was about eleven years of age, left the 
mother with nothing but her bare hands to support 
her growing family. I went to work on a farm 
and the outlook for an education was anything but 
reassuring. I still continued to get some schooling 
at the little country school during the winter. The 
summer that I was fifteen I was working in the gar- 
den of the pastor of the little Christian church, 
which I attended, and he told in the neighborhood 
that he had found a diamond In the rough. I have 



70 College Men without Money 

never questioned the latter part of that statement as 
applied to me, but have always felt that the good 
old man's vision must have been somewhat impaired 
by his years. However that may be, he resolved 
to see if some way could not be devised for polishing 
the rough specimen. 

Soon after this he retired from the active min- 
istry and went to live in the town of Yellow Springs, 
Ohio. At this place the Christian denomination had 
a college known as Antioch College. 

One day our little family was thrown into excite- 
ment by a letter from the afore-mentioned pastor, 
the Rev. Joseph Weeks, saying that he had pro- 
cured for my mother the position of cook for the 
college boarding club and an opportunity for me 
and my sister, next younger than I, to work our way 
through school. After much deliberation and 
many councils, it was finally decided that we go. 
That was a happy time for me. The impressions 
which crowded thick and fast into my life at this 
time can never be erased or forgotten. The won- 
derful journey, the great stone building, the dormi- 
tories, the beautiful campus, the teachers, and the 
dear old library. Oh, the library was best of all. 

On my arrival I went to work in the dining-room. 
It was my duty to fill the water glasses on the ta- 
bles before each meal and then to assist in clearing 
the tables at the close of each meal and to help in 
the washing of the dishes. I also carried coal and 
water for the kitchen. I spent one happy year 



College Men without Money 71 

there and I do not think that my teachers during 
the nine months that I was under their training and 
polishing ever discovered any diamond-hke quali- 
ties about me except the roughness. Overtaxed with 
the work, mother's health broke and we were forced 
to leave. It was a bitter disappointment to me. I, 
as the oldest at home, felt that I must try to do 
something to help care for the rest of the family. 
Then came days of darkness and struggle. I could 
find no work. Finally a farmer, taking advantage 
of my desperate condition, hired me for the munifi- 
cent salary of six dollars per month. At one time 
during this period I walked twenty miles to the city 
of Erie and hunted for work as faithfully as I knew 
how to look for work in a great city, but found 
none, and was forced to walk back again disheart- 
ened, only to be told by a penurious relative where 
I had been staying that " I had not tried to get 
work." I hope God has forgiven him. I believe 
I have, but it still hurts when I think of it. Then 
I walked fifty miles to the city of Ashtabula, Ohio, 
stopping at the towns on the way. In some of which 
I had acquaintances, and tried to find work, but 
without avail. Finally, finding myself In the city 
friendless, homeless, penniless, night came on and 
I crept under a sidewalk hungry and thoroughly dis- 
heartened, and slept. In the morning somewhat 
rested I walked to a neighboring town where a 
cousin of my mother's resided; there I got a dinner 
and a good night's rest. From there I journeyed 
back home. 



72 College Men without Money 

But the darkest day will have its dawning and 
the longest lane its turning, and that fall again the 
way opened and I entered the Old Waterford Acad- 
emy at Waterford, Pa. Here I did janitor work 
the first year, in the Academy, and earned what ex- 
tra money I could around the town by splitting wood 
and doing odd jobs during my leisure hours. The 
second year I obtained the janitorship of the graded 
school. By dint of hard work, carrying seyen 
studies each term, I completed the three years' 
course in two years, graduating in 1889. Then I 
felt that on account of my mother and sisters I 
could not remain longer in school, but must look after 
them, which I did until the death of my mother and 
the marriage of my sisters. During these years I 
had varied experience, working at shoveling dirt on 
the streets of Erie, unloading lumber barges at the 
docks, as attendant in the State Hospital for the In- 
sane, teaching school, driving a team In the lumber 
woods as a lumber jack, working three years at 
printing, two years In a general agency of fire in- 
surance, as secretary of Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation and physical director of same, and finally, 
entering the ministry. 

After the death of my mother and after someone 
else had relieved me of responsibility for the care 
of my sisters, I felt the need of further preparation 
for the work to which I had been called. I felt 
that I was too old to attempt a college course, and 
decided that If it were possible I would like to take 



College Men without Money 73 

a course in the Moody Bible School at Chicago. I 
did not have the money to do this, but felt that some 
way would open. God almost miraculously opened 
a way, and I became director of the religious and 
club work for men and boys in a social settlement in 
Chicago where the salary was sufficient to aid me 
in doing this very well. Thus I was able to grad- 
uate from the Moody Bible Institute, the best school 
I know of for the training of Christian workers. 

I would like to say to any young man or woman, 
anywhere, I can think of but two things that need 
stand in your way of getting a thorough school 
training. One is, health so poor that you cannot 
attain it, or the care of others which may demand 
your time and energies to such an extent that you 
cannot devote either to the pursuit of knowledge. 
To such let me say that there are lessons to be 
learned under these circumstances of equal value 
with the training of the schools, and the curriculum 
of no school, college or university can furnish them. 
Your loss will not be without its compensation. If 
you meet the disappointments cheerily, bravely, and 
strive to make the most of life and learn your les- 
sons from the school in which you are ever being 
trained, the great school of life, you will grow into 
a broader, deeper, tenderer, nobler man or woman. 

It is not so much poverty and environment that 
will keep boys and girls from an education as it is 
lack of vision, desire, determination, perseverance. 

I am not at all anxious about the boy or girl who 



74 College Men without Money 

has these qualities. They will succeed in the great 
race of life, if upheld by a strong moral purpose at 
the back of it all. It is the boy or girl who, hav- 
ing the advantages, the opportunity, the means for 
an education, has not the vision, the desire, the pur- 
pose, that needs our sympathy and anxious thought. 

Burlington, N, C. 



RICHES MORE OF A HANDICAP THAN 
POVERTY 

WALTER P. LAWRENCE, A.M., LITT.D., DEAN OF 
MEN OF ELON COLLEGE 

EARLY In September, 1890, I arrived at Elon 
College about a week after the opening of 
the first session of the College. I had In money 
and other resources that I could turn Into money less 
than $100. My purpose was to stay until my money 
gave out — perhaps I could get on by supplement- 
ing It with odd jobs until well on Into the spring. 
It was my ambition to be a teacher In an academy 
or high school. I felt that to rub my elbows 
against college walls a few months, at least, would 
eminently satisfy my Ideal of preparation. 

Well, that was a wonderful $100. It opened 
doors, revealed vistas, heightened ideals. Increased 
the tension of life until since the day I entered col- 
lege I have lived In a different world. The Col- 
lege was young — had no traditions, casts or cliques 
among Its membership. As a subfreshman I was al- 
lowed to possess my soul In peace and live my life 
as leisurely or as diligently as I pleased. I chose 
soon after getting Into the college current to live as 
diligently as possible. I meant to make the fresh- 

75 



76 College Men without Money 

man year and the substudies also while my money 
lasted. I succeeded. By the time my money was 
gone — about the first of April, 1891 — a long 
vista of a complete college course had burst invit- 
ingly before me with " graduation " in letters of fire 
at the end. What should I do? I was penniless, 
and knew no one from whom I could borrow. I 
had been reared, the son of a country minister, in a 
back section, sometimes called " backwoods," where 
life was pure but simple and easy-going. Every- 
body was poor, and a college bred man a curiosity. 
Having grown to manhood under such conditions, I 
felt keenly the struggle now going on between pov- 
erty and the newly awakened ambitions in my life. 
But there was nothing to do but to accept the in- 
evitable. The situation, I kept to myself. I felt it 
a disgrace to be penniless amongst many who seemed 
to have abundance; so I kept my troubles to myself 
until I was about to leave, when to my surprise, Mr. 
Tom Strowd, with whom and his excellent family I 
had boarded, offered to credit my board account 
until the end of the session. Another gentleman, 
Mr. P. A. Long, offered to give me a job of car- 
penter work during vacation. The results were, I 
finished the session on the strength of credit with 
people, all of whom were strangers to me when I 
came to the college. 

The carpenter work in the summer and of after- 
noons and Saturdays until late in the fall, together 
with more credit on college expenses in the spring. 



College Men without Money 77 

got me through the sophomore year. The severe 
strain of working my way and keeping up my studies 
threw me Into a fever In the late fall, which lasted 
several weeks, and It was with difficulty that I passed 
my work In college. At commencement, however, 
I had put the sophomore year behind me with a fair 
record, and the burning letters " graduation " were 
perceptibly nearer than a year ago, yet I was almost 
as near out of debt as then. 

This summer I taught school at Cedar Falls, a 
little manufacturing town In Randolph County, N. 
C. While here I fell under the kindly Interest of 
the wealthiest man of the town, Mr. O. R. Cox, 
who, after learning something of how I had made 
my way thus far, offered to lend me such sums of 
money as I should need to get through the next 
two years. The remaining two years went 
smoothly along. I was In good health and supple- 
mented the loans from Mr. Cox with what I could 
earn by various kinds of self-help; for I borrowed 
as little as possible. 

These two last years were filled with work and 
many gratifications also, for the literary society and 
the religious organizations gave me what honors 
they had to bestow. I was president of the Y. M. 
C. A., was sent to Y. M. C. A. conferences and con- 
ventions; was teacher In the Sunday School and 
later superintendent. I represented the literary so- 
ciety several times, twice at commencement, and 
other times In public debates. I was the valedic- 



78 College Men without Money 

torian of my class on Commencement Day, and on 
the same day was offered a position in the EngHsh 
department, with privilege to prepare myself for the 
place by university study. I have, therefore, sup- 
plemented my college course by special study in the 
University of North Carolina, Yale, and Oxford. 

It is trying and positively discouraging many 
times for one to have to make his own way through 
college. The experience has put the conviction in 
me, however, that the young person appearing at 
the threshold of a college course is more seriously 
handicapped if he has too much money than he who 
has none at all. 

Elon College, N. C. 



THE WILL AND THE WAY 

REV. ROY MC CUSKEY, A.B., S.T.B. 

I HAD a great desire for an education. This 
desire was the outcome of two strong convic- 
tions — that my place in the world's work was to 
be In the ministry of the Gospel; that I could never 
render the best service in that capacity without a 
thorough education. When I was ten years old my 
mother was left a widow. Father bequeathed to 
his wife and children a noble character, but no es- 
tate. I early learned the lessons of industry and 
frugality, and these combined with some native de- 
termination, made the venture of securing a college 
course at the age of eighteen rather easy. I was 
not afraid to work, nor to suffer. 

I was a stranger to the faculty and student body. 
Moreover, I was a stranger to college ways, so my 
first step was to borrow enough money to put me 
through at least part of the first year. I found some 
janitor work that year. It helped, but not much. 
The next summer I worked in a grocery store, and 
when the term opened in the fall, I was back with a 
little money and plenty of nerve. During the sec- 
ond year more janitor work occupied my spare hours 
until the spring when I organized a boarding club, 

79 



8o College Men without Money 

and remained as manager of that for the next two 
years. This partly paid my board, but room rent, 
tuition, and clothing were to be provided. Each 
summer I sought employment. One vacation was 
spent in a tin can factory; another in the Y. M. C. 
A., as an assistant secretary; another In doing my 
first preaching In a schoolhouse In the outskirts of 
the city of Wheeling. I had to do almost three 
full years of preparatory work, and my work was 
so irregular that I scarcely had a " class " until my 
senior year in college. Through the kindness of the 
faculty, I was permitted to do some work during va- 
cation, pass examinations at the fall opening, and re- 
ceive credits. I thus made my full course In eco- 
nomics. 

The first money which I had borrowed was long 
overdue, although I had kept the interest paid. The 
note called for settlement, so after I had been in the 
struggle for four years, I asked for an appointment 
at the fall conference of our church and was sent to 
a circuit that paid $500. I served It for one year 
out of school. I felt more than ever desirous to 
finish my education, so I made preparations to re- 
turn to college the next fall. The officials of the 
churches which I had been serving made it possible 
for me to return to them while carrying the regular 
work in my studies. Pastoral work was not de- 
manded, and each week I traveled something over 
two hundred miles on the railroad, going to and 
from these churches, or rather, the station nearest 



College Men without Money 8i 

the churches, and then walking from five to ten miles 
and preaching three times on Sunday. This was 
hard on the purse and the pulse, so the next year I 
asked for churches nearer the college. I got them. 
A job lot of them at that — just eight, with an ex- 
tra preaching place tacked on ! What I lost in rail- 
road mileage, I gained in foot travel, beautiful moun- 
tain scenery, and good atmosphere. In June, 1908, 
I received the bachelor of arts degree, and in Sep- 
tember of the same year entered Boston University 
School of Theology, from which I was graduated in 
June, 191 1. My expenses were met here by 
preaching in a small church on the south shore of 
Cape Cod. With all my working I needed more 
money than I could earn, and the only resort was 
borrowing, which I did from my life insurance com- 
pany, and from the board of education of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. In all, I have spent nine 
full years in college and seminary work with a fairly 
good record in studies, and received no help except 
from my own labor. Having the will, I made the 
way. 

Shinnston, W. Va. 



KEEP GOOD COMPANY 

PROFESSOR M. A. MC LEOD, A.B. 

BEING the son of an invalid mother and a Con- 
federate soldier who received a wound that 
permanently disabled him, I did not attend school 
but five months till I was twenty-one years of age. 
Believing that education is to agriculture, commerce, 
society, professions, government, and Christianity 
what the sunshine and the rain are to the vegetable 
kingdom, and what Christ is to those who believe on 
Him, I decided to try to cultivate the mind of my- 
self and as many others as I could. 

When I left home, I had one dollar. " Keep 
good company, and may God bless you," were the 
words which my mother gave me. By the time I 
had secured work, I had spent my dollar, but held 
on to the advice, which did me more good than all 
the gold of Cahfornla would have done me. I was 
willing to do any honest thing to educate myself. I 
plowed, cooked, walked four miles to school, worked 
on Saturdays and during vacation, drove a wagon, 
rang bells, studied fifteen hours every twenty-four, 
and taught school. 

Broadway, N. C. 

82 



THE DEMOCRACY OF A COLLEGE 

HON. EDWIN G. MOON, PH.B., B.L. 

I FINISHED preparatory school In June, 1891, 
and was In debt. I taught a district school dur- 
ing the following season, paid the debt, and then 
taught another year in the preparatory Itself. In 
the fall of 1893 I had accumulated about $150. 

I had previously decided to enter the University 
as soon as I could, and in September I went to Iowa 
City with what cash I had and became a freshman. 
At that time I did not know how I should be able 
to sustain myself during the year, but proposed to 
remain there as long as I could and not to leave un- 
til I was compelled to do so by physical necessities. 
In those days board was a good deal cheaper than 
now, and clubs furnished the necessaries of life for 
$2.50 a week and the room cost us $6 a month, 
which sum was divided between myself and room- 
mate. 

Along toward Christmas the necessity of pur- 
chasing a number of things that I could not figure 
on before, In the way of clothing and supplies, made 
it obvious that my funds would be exhausted long 
before the spring vacation of my freshman year. I 
had previously been looking around for a place to 

83. 



84 College Men without Money 

earn part of my expenses and finally secured a job 
as a waiter at a restaurant. In this manner I cut 
off the weekly expense for meals, as my meals were 
furnished at the restaurant as compensation for my 
services. Aside from this my expenses remained 
the same. 

I finished that year with some money to spare and 
invested something in an outfit to enable me to earn 
money in the sale of stereoscopic views. The sum- 
mer of 1893 was exceeding dry and times were very 
hard and this venture proved an expensive failure. 
At the end of three weeks from the time I started 
my money was gone and I had to get back home and 
start into something else. I finally got a job of 
looking after the insane patients at the Poor Farm 
at $25 a month and went back to the University with 
about $50. The second year was the hardest I had 
at the University, and, in fact, I had to borrow 
$100, which I secured from an old gentleman to 
whom I was a stranger, but to whom I was recom- 
mended by several students. 

I had realized the necessity, from previous expe- 
rience, of looking ahead for employment, and so 
when the spring vacation came I had got a job in 
the University library which I think paid me $2.00 a 
day, and in addition thereto I was janitor for the 
Y, M. C. A. building and also for one of the 
churches. The janitor work I did at night. This 
work I carried through the summer, managing still 
to do the work at the restaurant, which was light 



College Men without Money 85 

during the summer, but which paid for my meals. 
This gave me ample funds to begin my junior year. 
In the fall of that year I found an opportunity to 
write editorials for a local paper, which paid me 
$5.00 a week, so that I was able to quit the res- 
taurant work. I was able to pay something on the 
loan that year, although not very much. This work 
on the newspaper I continued as long as I was in the 
University and it finally was the means of my fin- 
ishing there in 1897. 

I was a little in debt when I finished the course, 
but had another year yet in school before I could be 
admitted to the bar. I concluded to go to the city 
where I could get some business experience in a law 
office aside from training in school. So I went to 
Chicago and got a job in a law office at $5.00 a 
week, and attended a night school. Previous ex- 
perience had taught me that the bare necessities of 
life do not cost so very much. I refunded the loan 
that I had secured while at the University and got 
$50 more. By securing a room that was large 
enough for three of us at Chicago, and which in ad- 
dition had an alcove with a gas stove in it, where 
we could prepare part of our meals, I found living 
inexpensive. 

After finishing the law school there, I remained a 
year working in a law office during the day and in 
the Crerar Library at night, until I had sufficient 
funds to pay all of my debts and to come back to 
Iowa and pay a few months' rent for an office. I 



86 College Men without Money 

began business in my present location in that man- 
ner and have continued there ever since. 

In 1906 I went to the State Senate as a represent- 
ative of this district, and there found as colleagues 
five boys whom I had known at the University. 
Two of them had supported themselves while at the 
University by work similar to mine. One of them 
was janitor of a church and the other had been a 
waiter at a restaurant. I cannot say that I regard 
the experience as involving any great hardship. I 
never felt at any time, while I was at the University, 
that this employment which was obligatory was 
of any disadvantage to me, except that it took 
more time than I wished to devote to work. My 
experience Is that there Is more of a democratic spirit 
in universities and colleges than is found elsewhere 
in the world. Such work as I did could have been 
done by any able-bodied student, and I am quite cer- 
tain It never would prove disadvantageous to his so- 
cial standing. I believe that If I had it to do over 
again I could do the same thing to better advan- 
tage. While expenses are now higher than they 
were, compensation for labor is also a good deal 
higher and employment is much more easily found 
than during the years from 1893 ^^ i^Q?* 3^^^ 
question as to whether a collegiate education is avail- 
able to every young man In this country I think is 
entirely dependent upon the question as to whether 
it is desired. I have no doubt that the experiences 
of many whom I knew at the University, which ex- 



College Men without Money 87 

periences were similar to mine, could be duplicated 
in almost any of the larger institutions of the coun- 
try. 

Otttimwa, Iowa. 



OBEYING THE CALL 

REV. J. F. MORGAN^ A.B. 

WHEN I was about fifteen years of age I was 
converted and joined Big Oak Christian 
Church in Moore County, North Carolina. At the 
age of about seventeen I felt the divine call into the 
gospel ministry. I made known to the Lord my 
willingness to obey the heavenly vision. But I could 
not see how I could prepare myself for so great a 
work as I did not have any money. Neither was 
my father able to help me in a financial way. I was 
then working at public work and the money that I 
earned was being used to help support the large 
family to which I belonged, there being nine boys 
and four girls in our family. 

However, I told my father of my desires and 
how that I desired to become a preacher some day. 
He told me that if I could make my own way 
through school he would let me go then, even though 
I had not reached the age of my freedom. I ap- 
preciated this kindness of my father very much. He 
was always good to us boys, and so was mother. 
But they were poor and I knew they needed my 
wages, at least until I was twenty-one. I knew I 
was no better than my other brothers, and I also 



College Men without Money 89 

knew that my father was not able to treat us all so 
nicely as to let us quit working for him before we 
were twenty-one years old. Hence I felt it best to 
work on with him until I reached that age, which I 
did. 

On my twenty-first birthday the " boss man " paid 
me off and I carried the money to my father and 
gave it to him. I then began to work for myself 
and to plan to go to school. I worked at a shingle 
mill for two months, saving in that time about 
$30.00. I then left home for school. I had 
about fifteen dollars when I got to the first school 
I attended which was Why Not Academy in Ran- 
dolph County, N. C, it being conducted at that 
time by Professor G. F. Garner. Here I kept 
" bachelor's hall," doing my own cooking and cut- 
ting wood on Saturdays to help defray my expenses. 

While here I began to correspond with the Pres- 
ident of Elon College, Elon College, N. C. This 
institution belongs to my own denomination and I 
decided that I wanted to study there. I had no 
money with which to pay my expenses, but I had 
some good friends who loaned me enough money 
to start to college on. So I entered Elon College. 
I was timid, dull, and embarrassed, but I know God 
had called me to a great work and that call included 
a preparation. I was willing to make the sacri- 
fice. Those things with which I busied myself in 
the afternoons were chopping wood, cutting corn, 
and cleaning off the town cemetery. I kept up this 



90 College Men without Money 

work for the first year. The second year my con- 
ference licensed me to preach and I was called as 
pastor of two churches. After this I made my way 
through college by doing pastoral work. It was 
hard on me, but I believe it was God's way of help- 
ing me through college. 

My college career was one of hard work and 
much toil. In fact it was a miracle that I got 
through at all. And I am convinced that if a man 
has a noble purpose prompting him to strive for an 
education, he can get It. 

Elan College, N. C. 



DETERMINATION AND STEADFASTNESS 

WINS . 

J. R. MOSLEY, L.I., B.S., M.S., PH.D. 

MY observation and experience has been that 
anyone who is anxious enough for a knowl- 
edge and culture to be willing to sacrifice false pride, 
and do well whatever his hands find to do that needs 
doing, can easily go through college, and even take 
advanced university training. It is not so much a 
question of money as desire, determination and 
steadfastness. The only exception is where one is 
bound by higher duties, such as caring for parents, 
or any call from the Divine that is direct and im- 
mediate. 

When I started to college in the fall of 1889, I 
only had, of my own making, a little more than 
enough money to buy necessary clothing and railroad 
fare from Statesville, N. C, to Nashville, Tenn. I 
had stood the competitive examination for a scholar- 
ship at Peabody College for Teachers and that paid 
two hundred dollars a year in addition to free tui- 
tion. 

Major Finger, who was then Superintendent of 
Education for North Carolina, wrote me that while 

91 



92 College Men without Money 

others had won the scholarships open to North Car- 
olina for that year, I was prepared to enter the 
sophomore class at Peabody, and that if I would pay 
my expenses one year, he would, upon the recom- 
mendation of the President, appoint me to a scholar- 
ship which would be good for two years. When 
mother saw my heart was set on going to college, she 
said, " Rufus shall go if we have to sell the creek 
field." As I was the fourth child of a family of 
eight children, and as we were not through pay- 
ing for the whole farm, I could not accept such a 
sacrifice. 

When I told Mr. R. G. Franklin of Elkin, N. C, 
of Major Finger's offer, he said he would be one 
of three men to lend $50.00 each. Col. A. B. Galo- 
way of Elkin, and Mr. James Bates, near Capps 
Mill, joined him In furnishing the strictly necessary 
money for the first year. Father stood my security, 
and he and Col. Galoway and Mr. Bates have gone 
where such unselfish goodness and generous faith 
are fully appreciated and rewarded. Only Mr. 
Franklin lives for me to thank and bless for his faith 
and helping hand when both were so much needed. 
The good mother still lives, and has increasing joy 
and hope in life, and all of her children rise up and 
call her blessed. 

During the first year at Peabody we had a short 
vacation in February, and I went out as an experi- 
mental book agent. I found that as trying as it was 
on the agent as well as the people, I could make 



College Men without Money 93 

money as a canvasser. Sometime In the spring 
Dr. Payne, President of Peabody, recommended me 
for a scholarship, and Major Finger gave me the 
appointment. This I held for two years until I 
received my bachelor's degree. The summer va- 
cations were all employed in canvassing or collect- 
ing, and I became a good enough collector for a pub- 
lishing house at Nashville to pay me $70.00 a month 
and expenses. Apart from my strict loyalty to my 
employer and hard work, I regret this part of my 
life, for I have seen for a long time that the selling 
of even Bibles to the poor at high prices on the seduc- 
tive Installment plan, is a form of business that Is 
not righteous enough even to use as a means for 
getting an education. As the true light breaks upon 
us, we can do nothing that is not necessary, right and 
beneficent. 

During the first three years at Nashville, I re- 
ceived on scholarship, made by summer work and 
saved enough money to pay back all I had borrowed 
for the first year and to take one year's graduate 
work at Nashville. My expenses had been con- 
siderably increased on account of rather poor general 
health and the loss of time and expense of three 
spells of sickness while I was canvassing or collect- 
ing. Being prominent In college life, and having 
too much of the pride for the finest and most sensi- 
ble economy, also caused my expenses to be more 
than were strictly necessary. Indeed false pride has 
been my expensive weakness and has stood most in 



94 College Men without Money 

the way of a life in strict harmony with reason, love 
and the spirit of truth. 

Before I had taken my master's degree at Nash- 
ville, I was offered a fellowship in the Wharton 
School of Finance of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, that paid $i 60.00 a year, the necessary uni- 
versity expenses. But I had my heart set on going 
to the University of Chicago. President Harper 
told that they would do as well by me as the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, so I entered there as a 
graduate student in 1893, the year of the World's 
Fair at Chicago. I got to see much of the exposi- 
tion during its last month without harm to my class 
work. I was given work as an assistant in the 
library, which called for cutting leaves of new books 
and magazines, putting the library stamp upon them, 
and carrying them to the departmental libraries. I 
was also an assistant in one of the departmental 
libraries. A dear college friend and professor at 
Nashville, Mr. A. P. Bourland, gave me such aid 
as was necessary until I received a fellowship that 
paid me $320.00 a year. The fellowship was 
awarded by Professor Harry Pratt Judson, now the 
president of the University. A short time after re- 
ceiving this fellowship I was offered a professorship 
at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, and the way 
was open for me to continue my education as a 
teacher and as a student as long as I cared. For 
two years it was arranged for me to teach at Mercer 
half of the year and spend the other at the Uni- 



College Men ivithout Money 95 

versity of Chicago, where I taught one class and 
continued my work as a student. The third year I 
taught six months at Mercer and spent the spring 
semester at Heidelberg, Germany. The following 
year I taught about seven months at Mercer, and 
went to Harvard for the closing lectures of the 
spring term and for the summer work. 

Before the sixth year of my work at Mercer had 
closed, I was told by Chancellor Hill of the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, that with my consent he would 
go before the board of trustees and recommend the 
creation of a new chair, the character of which 
would be determined largely by preferences, and he 
would recommend me to fill it. As inviting as it 
was I declined the generous offer, and in a short 
time resigned my position at Mercer for the quest 
of health, truth and the larger freedom along the 
lines of study and activity. 

Macon, Georgia. 



MAKING ONESELF USEFUL 

REV. W. J. NELSON, B.A., M.A., TH.M., TH.D., PH.D. 

I WAS the oldest of a large family of children. 
My father had no income, save what he made 
on a small farm, and a little corn, flour, meat and 
other produce with a dollar now and then, which he 
received for full time pastoring two or three 
churches. The district schools where we lived were 
poorly equipped and managed, and ran only a few 
months each year. Until I was thirteen years old 
I got the best these schools could give. But with a 
growing family without a corresponding growth in 
my father's income, at thirteen, to aid in the support 
of the family, I was forced to give up my schooling 
and do mill work when I was not working on the 
farm. 

All I had learned up to that time was reading, 
writing and a little arithmetic. Since the nature of 
my work did not require that I keep up my writing 
and arithmetic, I soon forgot both. But the thirst 
to know about things and people caused me to read 
all my spare time. My father himself was a col- 
lege-trained man. He worked hard on the farm or 
elsewhere all the week and preached every Sunday, 
never faltering in spirit. But sometimes he would 

96 



College Men without Money 97 

fail In strength of body. Though he never com- 
plained, I could often see that hurt look on his face. 
This was caused by the financial depression which 
followed Cleveland's administration, the covetous- 
ness of the people he served and other circum- 
stances, which were depriving him of giving his chil- 
dren the educational advantages enjoyed by the chil- 
dren of those whom he served. 

All this time I was longing for an education, and 
saw the disadvantage to which the lack of it was 
placing me. My father would each year promise 
me that the next year I could go to school. But 
when the time came I would have to stay and work 
and let the younger children go or let a note on 
a new schoolhouse, a new church house or How- 
ard College, at Birmingham, Ala., be paid. The 
fortitude of my father, that look on his face, the 
rainbow promise that some day I should even go to 
Howard College, and the thought that I was helping 
him care for the others and keep my sisters and 
younger brothers in school, made it easier for me. 
But many times I bathed my pillow with tears till 
the tired body forced sleep, all because I could not 
go to school like my boy companions. 

Thus I toiled on until I was nearly eighteen years 
old. My body was already stooping with toil, my 
hands hard and horny. I had forgotten how to 
write. I knew not how to figure, except a little " in 
my head." But still I read. This only increased 
my thirst for an education. At last the promised 



98 College Men without Money 

rainbow now appeared just ahead. Next year I was 
going back to school. And I was to stay there till 
I had finished at Howard College. But again my 
father failed me because others failed him. I did 
not get to go. This was my severest disappoint- 
ment, and but for a move my father made it would 
have been almost unbearable. 

This time he resolved to sell his little home and 
go West to try life all over again. We moved to 
Texas into a frontier section where there were not 
even at that time the small school advantages back 
in Alabama. It took all the little home brought to 
get us out West. We had to start again from the 
very bottom. The second year my father bought a 
piece of undeveloped land. For five years I stayed 
with him, helping him to make sure a home for him, 
mother and the children. His health was fast 
breaking by this time. For the first three years 
there was no opportunity for schooling. I was by 
that time twenty-one years old, too old for free tui- 
tion, and I had no money. 

The winter of the fourth year I had one month 
of a breathing spell which brought to me an oppor- 
tunity. My father told me of six acres of very fine 
land he wished opened and if I could get it cleared 
I might have all it made. Meantime the trustees of 
a little district school two miles away needed some 
wood for the school and offered to take it as tuition. 
So here was my chance. During the day I went to 
school, furnishing wood for tuition. After school 



College Men without Money 99 

hours and at night, by the light from burning brush, 
I cleared the land. It made three bales of cotton, 
the proceeds of which I saved for my future educa- 
tion. The next year I hired to my father for ten 
dollars a month and my board. This money I also 
added to my schooling fund. The following winter 
I got another month schooling at the little district 
school, again furnishing wood in payment for tui- 
tion. I again hired to my father for twelve dollars 
and fifty cents a month, saving every cent I could. 

Things were now getting easier at home. Our 
new home was paid for. The land was very fertile. 
My father's health was much better. Many settlers 
were coming in. A good district school was being 
developed. Most of my brothers and sisters were 
getting the free schooling. Some of my older sis- 
ters were being sent away to school. I was now 
nearly twenty-three. I had taken advantage of 
what I had. The little school where I had gone 
for a month each of the two preceding winters was 
not a graded school. This had made it a little less 
embarrassing for me. For fear the teacher would 
hold me back, I had carried a copy-book In my 
pocket without his knowledge, that I might the 
sooner learn to make the letters of the alphabet. I 
had learned how to use figures up to common frac- 
tions and how to spell a few simple words. With 
the exception of these two months' schooling It had 
now been about ten years since I left the schoolroom, 
ten years of the best part of my life for acquiring 



lOO College Men without Money 

an education — from thirteen to twenty-three. But 
after this added waiting and hoping of a little over 
five more years, my rainbow again appeared as from 
a sudden burst of sunlight on a receding cloud. 

My chance had at last come and I was going to 
use it. It came in this fashion : It was one March 
day just after the noon hour I had started to the 
field, when there came to me a letter from the prin- 
cipal of a boarding school which had both a graded 
and high school department. He wanted someone 
to live with him and do his chores for board while 
attending the school. The crop was started, and, 
of course, to leave at this time would disconcert my 
father and his plans for the year. But there were 
only a little over two more school months in that 
session. And if I would go then I could have the 
place as long as I wished it. If not, someone else 
might take it and my chance would be gone. My 
father saw the opportunity for me and acquiesced. 

With the money I had saved and this opportunity 
to work for my board, I now left home and began 
my schooling in earnest. I entered this school in 
the low sixth grade. However, having a strong 
body and willing mind, I carried eight studies while 
the others carried only four. In the two remaining 
months of that session and the two following years 
I completed the high school course. I graduated 
with honors, was valedictorian, and received the 
faculty medal for the highest grades made in school 
my senior year. The week following the close of 



College Men without Money loi 

school I passed an examination for a county teach- 
er's certificate. 

But to do all this I had to work. For my board 
In that home, I had all the wood to cut, water to 
draw, fires to make, garden and yard to keep, horses 
and cow to care for, fences, etc., to repair and many 
other odds and ends to do. In order to prepare my 
school work I did not retire till ten and arose again 
at three or four, getting only from five to six hours' 
sleep out of the twenty-four. 

There is one little Incident connected with my stay 
in this school that might be worth mentioning, as 
It shows how I met one of the greatest difficulties 
which a young man just entering school at my age 
has to meet. As I have said, I entered this school 
at the age of twenty-three In the low sixth grade. 
Those in my classes were children about twelve and 
thirteen years old. You can imagine how I felt, a 
big awkward young man twenty-three years old in 
classes composed mostly of little children from ten 
to twelve years younger. But my embarrassment 
was Intensified when one day a little twelve-year-old 
girl made fun of the way I was trying to work an 
example in common fractions. I felt hurt; I closed 
my book and quietly walked to my seat. A cousin 
of mine was teaching the class. She caught the look 
on my face and saw that it was not that of rebellion, 
but that I was only hurt, embarrassed, and was try- 
ing to conquer. I shall never forget the kind look 
she gave me, as she said, " Will, you are excused. 



102 College Men without Money 

if you wish to go," Her remark was not only a 
rebuke to that member of the class, but it helped 
me to conquer. I took my books and went to my 
room resolved to show this little girl that, " He 
laughs best who laughs last." And I did. When 
I started she was almost a grade in advance of me. 
But I finished one year ahead of her with honors 
while she hardly got through a year later. 

I had been working heretofore during the sum- 
mer vacation months that I might be able to return 
to school each winter. But as I was to teach the 
coming winter, I spent the summer studying at the 
North Texas State Normal, Denton, Texas. To do 
this, I now for the first time borrowed money, fifty 
dollars, from a friend of mine, a banker, who had 
once struggled for his education. He had been 
watching me and gladly came to my help and volun- 
tarily offered all the money I needed. With this 
fifty dollars I was able to take the summer normal 
course. At the close of it I passed an examination 
for a state teacher's certificate which entitled me to 
teach in any of the public schools in the State. 

On returning home I was given the home school 
where four years before I had learned to figure and 
write, paying for my tuition with wood. The salary 
was forty dollars per month and the length of ses- 
sion was now six months. This seemed like a big 
salary to one who had never before received more 
than twelve dollars and fifty cents per month. But 
it was not the salary, it was the opportunity that I 



College Men without Money 103 

now saw further to pursue my studies and to Instill 
something of the same spirit and enthusiasm in 
others, that now meant so much to me. 

I had once hoped for no more than the mere 
knowledge of how to read and write and figure, 
which this little district school had in former days 
given me. But with that knowledge had come a 
broader vision and the ability and opportunity to 
pursue that vision — that of getting a high school 
education. And now I had reached that goal, had 
gone to the state normal and held from the State 
a recognition of the right and ability to pursue this 
still greater vision of giving knowledge and inspira- 
tion to others, how could I ever wish or hope for 
more? 

But it chanced that that very summer my rainbow 
again moved out just ahead of me. I attended a 
district Baptist association. Dr. S. P. Brooks, 
president of Baylor University, was there and made 
a speech on education. Here I heard how he had 
once been a section hand on a railroad. And now 
he was the president of a university, and with a 
great heart was telling me and others how we needed 
that college and how it really needed us as instru- 
ments through which to bless the world. Oh I 
That was almost another world's message to me. 
My vision again broadened. The rainbow of my 
boyhood days again appeared. 

I did not get to talk to this man. I was half-way 
afraid of him or revered him. But I did not need 



104 College Men without Money 

to talk to him. I had heard him and he had in- 
spired me. I returned to my home with new hopes 
and soon formed new plans. I would work hard 
till the opening of my school to pay off the fifty dol- 
lars I had borrowed. Then I would save all that 
I made teaching that session that I might go to col- 
lege the next. Yes, I wanted to be faithful to my 
former vision and purpose to teach that school. 
But at the same time I would make it a stepping 
stone to something higher. 

But I was prevented from doing this. Just about 
two weeks before my school was to open, a preacher 
from a near town came to me and asked me if I 
wanted to go to Baylor University. I readily told 
him I did. "Would you go?" he asked. I re- 
plied, " I would if I could." But that seemed im- 
possible. I had no money. My father could not 
help me. And, besides, I was under obligation to 
teach that school. He offered to help overcome all 
these difficulties if I would only go. I afterward 
saw that his main purpose was to see if I wanted 
to go, and would if I could. 

He himself had worked his way through Missis- 
sippi College and the Seminary. Without my 
knowledge, he and his church had watched my strug- 
gle for an education. Ofttimes in former days I 
had sold him and other members of that church, not 
knowing who they were at the time, many cords of 
wood and watermelons to help pay my way in 
school. I had now stopped and was going to teach. 



College Men without Money 105 

They were afraid this would mean the end of my 
own school days. Thus he came in behalf of his 
church to ask me to go on at once to college. If I 
would do so they would furnish me ten dollars per 
month. I saw the trustees of the school I had con- 
tracted to teach. They were unselfish and sympa- 
thetic toward me. Glad that I had this opportunity, 
they released me on condition that I help secure a 
teacher in my place. This was easily and satisfac- 
torily done. I renewed the note at the bank, and 
with the money I had made since my return from 
the Normal and the first ten dollars from that 
church I made preparation, and bought my ticket 
for Waco, Texas, to enter Baylor University. 
After I had bought my ticket I had but fifteen dol- 
lars. I felt that if I could only get there I could 
work for my board, and with the promised ten dol- 
lars a month I could pay all my other expenses. 

When I reached college there was but one person 
in all that city, student body and faculty, that I had 
ever before seen — Dr. Brooks. And he had never 
before met me. I could not get there till the night 
before matriculation began. Then I could find no 
opening or home where I could work for my board. 
They had all been taken. Dr. Brooks saw my anx- 
iety and disappointment. He encouraged me to 
hope and hang on. And I did. 

I made arrangments with a students' club for a 
month's board, matriculated as subfreshman and got 
down to work. I saw that Dr. Brooks was very 



To6 College Men without Money 

busy. Therefore I never went to him with my trou- 
bles. But he would sometimes overtake me on the 
campus or call for me to come to his office and would 
encourage me. Once while on a trip somebody sent 
by him fifteen dollars to help me hold on. I do not 
now know where it came from. I was able also to 
get five dollars per month from a students' aid fund. 
I have often felt that without this it would have 
been impossible for me to stay. For at the end of 
the first month there was still no place open for me 
to work. And so it was from time to time for the 
first year. When I would hear of and go to see a 
place someone was just ahead of me. Then once or 
twice the church would fail to send me the ten dol- 
lars. How I ever stayed out that first year I can 
hardly realize. It seems like a nightmare at times 
as I look back on it. 

I had no money to renew my worn-out clothes. 
And in those days I became an artist with a needle. 
I could put as nice a patch on the elbow of my coat 
sleeve and elsewhere as any woman. And when the 
feet of my socks would no longer hold darning, I 
would cut them off and sew two legs together, sew- 
up one end, and wear them that way. And at the 
wash tub, there was not in all the South a black 
mammy that could beat me. I bought me a set of 
smoothing irons and with the exception of my col- 
lars and occasionally a shirt I ironed all my clothes. 
I also pressed my coat and trousers. And by press- 
ing now and then for others I would bring a twenty- 



College Men without Money 107 

five cent piece to my depleted purse. But there 
were homesickness and heart aches. There was no 
going home Christmas and other vacations. And 
more than once my hope was almost gone. And 
ofttimes when my room-mate had gone to sleep I 
would slip away into the darkness to the old Baptist 
Tabernacle, that once stood where the First Baptist 
Church now stands, and pray till far into the night 
for God to help me hold on and to open up some 
way. I well remember one morning after a night 
of wrestling, my room-mate approached me and 
asked if I needed any money, saying that his parents 
had sent him more than was necessary for his imme- 
diate needs. I told him my condition. He gladly 
lent me enough to pay up my board for another 
month. 

This ended my first year. The delayed check 
from the church enabled me to return home, where 
I spent the summer at hard work. I had had a taste 
of college life. I had also tried my mettle, and was 
now determined to finish. The church again prom- 
ised to continue its help. 

Therefore, I came back that fall, but with a more 
hopeful outlook. Soon after my return I found a 
good home three miles out from the college where 
I could work for my board, and also some clerical 
work. I notified the church that I could get along 
without their help, thanking them for what they had 
done for me and asking that they help someone else 
as they had me. This they did. The nature of the 



io8 College Men without Money 

work I did In this home was very much like that I 
did while in high school. I continued to work here 
for three years. 

After staying in this home a year and at the close 
of my freshman year, the pastor of the East Waco 
Church, where I worshiped and taught an adult 
Bible class, had to give up his work because of ill 
health. Though I had never been ordained, but 
had tried to preach a few times, the church asked 
that I supply the pulpit till they could get a pastor. 
I agreed to do so. They paid me ten dollars per 
Sunday for my service, which lasted for six months. 
But I continued working for my board, fearing to 
give up the place lest somebody else would have it 
when I got through with the church. Besides, by 
doing this, and with that forty dollars per month 
for six months, I was able to pay the fifty dollars I 
owed the bank, provide myself with some necessary 
things, continue my college work during the summer 
term and have enough to return for my sophomore 
year. 

However, all this work was not done without 
some embarrassment, especially at first. This fam- 
ily for whom I worked were in good circumstances 
financially and were members of that church. Oft- 
times on Sunday morning after I had done their 
chores, dressed in my blue " Carhartt " overalls, I 
would hitch their horse to the carriage for them to 
go to church. Then I would put on my best clothes 
and go and get in the pulpit and preach to them. 



College Men without Money 109 

But these proved to be some of the best friends I 
ever had. 

Thus, by means of plenty of hard work, It was 
made easier for me to stay in college. When I 
ceased my service for the East Waco Church I was 
called to serve a small suburban church for one-half 
time for ten dollars per month. After a while they 
increased this to fifteen. In my junior year I was 
called to another church, sixty miles out from Waco, 
for the other two Sundays at twenty-five dollars per 
month. At the close of my junior year I gave up 
working for my board, devoting all my energies to 
my college and church work. Also at the close of 
my junior year I was awarded the first holder of the 
M. H. Wolfe scholarship of two hundred and fifty 
dollars to be used during my senior year. During 
this year I had smooth sailing. 

At the close of my senior year I was awarded the 
E. L. Marston scholarship of two hundred and fifty 
dollars to Brown University, Providence, R. I. I 
again spent my summer working hard and then bor- 
rowed two hundred dollars that I might supplement 
this scholarship and go to Brown for my A.M. 
work. I had become so accustomed to working dur- 
ing both school and vacation that I might stay in 
school, I continued to do so while in Brown and on 
through my seminary year. After taking my A,.M., 
I returned to Brown for a second year of post- 
graduate work. This last year I made an average 
of ninety-five dollars per month while also carrying 
on my university studies. 



no College Men without Money 

The next year I went to the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. The first 
year I was there I finished the Th.M. degree, and 
pastored a half-time church outside of Louisville. 
I returned to the Seminary a second year, completed 
the class work and stood the examination for the 
postgraduate Th.D. course. I expect later to sub- 
mit my thesis for that degree. 

Through it all I got a full share of college and 
seminary life and spirit. The knowledge, inspira- 
tion and visions of life were but a part of what I 
got. There were also close friendships and insight 
into human nature. I also had my part of college 
fun and got my share of class and student honors. 
It was not necessary to be, as some may think, a 
mere grind. 

Thus I have told you the story of how I got my 
education. I was' twenty-three when I left home to 
begin in the sixth grade. I was thirty-three the day 
before I received my Th.M, degree from the Semi- 
nary. And one year later I left the schoolroom 
with a younger spirit, a broader vision, better 
equipped to continue my place in the service of hu- 
manity and God. 

During it all I borrowed only two hundred and 
fifty dollars. At the end I had paid this back and 
paid for fifty acres of land. My father never 
helped me a cent. He was not able at first. But 
he did appreciate my struggle, and late in my college 
course came to me and said that he was in better 



College Men without Money iii 

circumstances and if I ever got to where I could not 
go myself to let him know. I never got to that 
place. He asked for the pleasure of making me a 
present of my first college diploma. I gladly gave 
him this pleasure. The departure of that hurt and 
disappointed look on his face, in knowing that I was 
somehow getting what he wanted me to have, has 
repaid me a thousand times for all the struggles I 
have had to make unsupported by him. 

You may think that my being a minister and the 
salary from preaching made it easier for me than 
it would be for others. But this is not necessarily 
true. For if you will note, the work that I did was 
the work that anyone can do and it was up to and 
through my high school, subfreshman and fresh- 
man years in college that I had such a hard struggle. 
And it was after this time that I ever received a cent 
for preaching. Moreover, for two years of my 
time at Baylor I had to pay my tuition, one year by 
working in the Library, the other with a scholarship. 
And at Brown University no free tuition is given; 
preachers and all pay alike. 

There is a college education for every man. And 
all that is needed for the acquiring of such is an un- 
compromising desire and purpose and strength of 
body and mind. 

Rock Hill, S. C. 



A FAITH " DIVINELY SIMPLE " 

REV. S. F. NICKS, A.B. 

ORANGE COUNTY, North Carolina, was my 
native home, where I was reared on the farm 
in a home of limited means. There were eight of 
us children who grew to manhood and womanhood 
in the old home. 

Our advantages for an education were unusually 
poor, being only that of the old free school which 
at the time ran from two to three months in the year 
and ofttimes we did not get to attend all the time. 
That old free school was all that my brothers and 
sisters ever had the privilege of attending. Father 
provided a good honest living for the home, but was 
not able to send his children away to school. 

I was not willing to stop with only the advantage 
that little school afforded. At twenty-one I had 
fifty-four dollars, and with that I entered the Siler 
City high school and remained there for three five- 
month terms. While there I did my own cooking, 
cut wood, made fires and swept the academy for my 
tuition. I then taught one session of public school 
at $20 per month. I then entered the Caldwell In- 
stitute of Orange County, N. C, and was in school 
there two years. The first year I boarded with a 



College Men without Money 113 

widow and did enough work to pay my board and 
received my tuition there for work that I did in 
securing students. 

In the fall of 1899 I entered Trinity College, 
where I remained four years, graduating in the 
spring of 1903. While in college the work that I 
did for paying expenses was mostly during vacation. 
By this time I had become quite a successful sales- 
man. I traveled every vacation, selling books, pic- 
tures, etc. The goods that I handled were always 
of a helpful nature, and as an evidence of this fact 
I traveled the same territory for five different sum- 
mers. Every summer I made enough to pay my 
expenses in college the following session, and when 
I graduated I was in better circumstances financially 
than when I entered. [The last summer I was pro- 
moted as general agent for books and had several 
sub-agents working under me. 

Now I have briefly outlined how I worked my 
way through high school and college, while there are 
many other ways not mentioned in which I earned 
small amounts, such as cutting hair, mending shoes 
and cleaning clothes, I desire to say that the working 
my way was not all ; I can remember how well I man- 
aged — making a little go a long way; learning the 
value of a dollar and knowing when and how to 
spend it to the best advantage. All this is due to 
my keeping a book account of all my expenses. I 
kept an itemized account of everything, even to myj 
postage stamps. 



114 College Men without Money 

I shall never forget the kind words of encourage- 
ment from Dr. W. P. Few and others while I was 
in college. Dr. Few, now president of Trinity Col- 
lege, Is truly a friend to a poor boy. 

In conclusion I desire to say that my working and 
managing my way through school has been of untold 
value to me in other ways. I have never had work 
that paid any fancy salary, but have always been 
able to lay aside a little every year. The Giver of 
all has helped me to manage that little so that it con- 
tinually grows and multiplies and shall ever be dedi- 
cated to the Master's use. 

Milton, N. C. 



ONE WHO KNOWS IT CAN BE DONE 

PERHAPS during no other period of civilized 
history is the excuse for a boy's not obtaining 
at least a college education so unfounded and unac- 
ceptable, to those of us who have traveled this very 
same road, as It is to-day. About us everywhere are 
great schools and institutions of learning with their 
various departments supported by State and individ- 
ual endowments, eliminating the once felt great 
college expense, and placing the best within the reach 
of us all. 

This fact, however, Is not apparent to everyone, 
and It is for this reason the writer has been Induced 
to say just a word of encouragement to the boys on 
the farm and to those who have seen a very little 
of hfe. 

First of all, allow him to assure you that " no one 
knows the possibilities of a newly born babe," and 
one must remember that our greatest statesmen and 
thinkers at one time could scarcely read, as well as 
that the most famous musicians once knew not the 
musical scale. Just so It Is with the boy In the re- 
motest district of the country. He may have the 
making of a Lincoln or be able to rise to the position 

"5 



Ii6 College Men without Money 

of a King. Therefore, we see, " Everyone is the 
architect of his own fortune," and the only three 
necessary requisites are health, strength, and a sound 
mind. 

It has been the writer's great pleasure to have 
lived in every walk of life from the boy on the farm 
to one in the greatest cities of both the United States 
and Europe and it is not through hearing or fancy, 
but with personal authority he can speak. 

There is a greater appreciation for the working 
college boy to-day than ever before. Even the 
greater institutions like the University of Chicago, 
Illinois, and Wisconsin, as well as all the State Uni- 
versities of the South, have in their enrollments not 
only boys who are earning their way, but boys who 
are leading their classes and represent the strongest 
types of young manhood we know. One almost 
comes to feel that, though the path is a bit more 
rugged, self-help develops in the college boy, as in 
the football player, a keener sense of duty; gives 
to him a firmer confidence, and leaves no obstacles 
that he by constant, honest effort cannot surmount. 

Oh! what the writer would have given to have 
known this when he was a boy ! He was reared on 
a farm and had very few of the opportunities en- 
joyed by the boys in the remotest districts of the 
country to-day. 

There must have been an inborn Instinct to try 
for an education, because no forms of business or 
other like Inducements ever claimed any part of his 



College Men without Money iij 

mind. He remained on the farm till he was seven- 
teen years of age, going three months to school in 
the summer and doing what he could with his books 
himself at odd times. Finally his brother gave him 
a cotton patch. The cotton, when sold, netted him 
$85. With this money he went away to a boarding 
high school where he came in contact, for the first 
time, with teachers of some influence and moral 
strength. He remained at this school five months 
and had to return to the farm because of no more 
money. 

From the farm he went to work in a general 
store, thinking perhaps this was a quicker and 
shorter way, but found this a difficult task, too, to 
save any money ahead because of such small wages. 
All this time there was an ever increasing desire 
to go away to school, " money or no money," but 
lack of experience made him afraid. From the 
store he went out from town to town as a picture 
agent and it was here perhaps that a bit of self- 
confidence was first gained. All this time the one 
purpose and desire was to save money for college, 
but sales were not successful enough to warrant his 
going into what seemed impossible to the inexperi- 
enced mind. Finally, one day he came in tired out 
and discouraged feeling that to be a picture man 
was to be of little force in the world. He clearly 
saw that, first of all, one must be educated. Acting 
upon this conclusion he boarded a train for the State 
University of Louisiana, which was to open in ten 



Ii8 College Men without Money 

days. He first set about finding out whether boys 
without money could earn their way by work. He 
told the President that all the money he had was 
^6^^ but that he had come there determined to enter 
school. This determined spirit made the President 
offer some encouragement by advising the young 
student to register and try. He did far more than 
this by saying he would give the boy the name of a 
newspaper editor who wanted some boy to assist in 
managing the circulation of his paper. 

With this small spark of hope, the young student 
settled down to study and to try to meet the entrance 
examination, which he himself thought he could not 
pass. The necessary " mark " was made to enter 
the subfreshman department, however, and he was 
finally enrolled and became one of the boys. 

He worked every afternoon in this newspaper 
office, seeing that the papers were delivered 
promptly, collected for the paper and solicited new 
subscriptions. Thus he made his expenses for the 
entire year. This did a great deal to encourage 
him. After spending the following summer looking 
after the horticultural gardens, he returned the next 
session and carried papers as an ordinary newsboy, 
and passed his freshman year. 

After this year a scholarship was granted him by 
the University, which made his expenses possible dur- 
ing his sophomore year. During his junior and 
senior years he assisted in the zoological laboratories 
at the University and taught the sciences at the city 



College Men without Money 119 

high school, which more than paid his expenses to 
graduation. 

During his summers he worked as " tick agent " 
for the Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, 
D. C, and in this way saved sufficient money to be- 
gin a medical course, which he saw no chance of 
completing at the time. Luck, came his way, how- 
ever, and he met every obstacle for two years and 
finally borrowed money from a friend to finish his 
medical course. 

One finds a course in medicine somewhat more 
difficult to work through than a college course, but 
after one has gone through college these difficulties 
are easily met. 

Finally, allow him to say that all any boy needs 
to obtain an education is money enough to pay his 
railroad fare to the school he wishes to attend; after 
he reaches there, if he is in earnest, someone will 
show him a way. 

The writer does not wish to disclose his name for 
personal reasons, but anyone interested can get his 
address from the author of " College Men without 
Money," and letters written to him concerning how 
to work through school will be answered with 
pleasure. 

Mississippi. 



DIFFICULTY AND WILLINGNESS ARE 
ENEMIES 

REV. C. H. ROWLAND, A.B., M.A., D.D. 

ON the 1 0th day of September, 1895, I arrived 
at Elon College to do five years' work in order 
to receive a diploma from that institution. It 
seemed like an impossible task. A well-worn trunk 
held my belongings, which consisted of a preacher's 
coat of long standing. My purse contained the 
whole amount of six dollars and seventy-five cents. 
It might be of Interest to say that I was nearing my 
twenty-seventh birthday, and had been a licensed 
preacher for four years. There is no need to t'cll 
why I was at college without money, for I have al- 
ready said, that I was a preacher, and the Scriptures 
say, " Not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
mighty, not many noble are called." 

It was Dr. Smith Baker, of Maine, who said, " In 
the ministerial profession, four-fifths of the minis- 
ters worked their own way by doing all kinds of 
work from sawing wood to teaching school." I was 
not one of the class who sawed wood, neither did 
I teach school, but I preached, just simply preached. 
I have not asked those who heard me what they 
called it, but / called It " preaching." I always be- 



College Men without Money 121 

lieved that if a young man had brains and energy 
he could obtain an education without much help from 
anyone but God. My trouble was, I wanted enough 
money before I went to college to " put me through." 
I suppose, if I had been so favored with money, I 
would not have been worth " putting through." 

That was a ride never to be forgotten on that Sep- 
tember morning, when I left my home to drive thir- 
teen miles to Raleigh, N. C, to take the train for 
Elon College. A widowed mother at home — prac- 
tically no money in my pocket, and five years' work 
to be done in college. My little bark was on a 
stormy sea, but I had decided to use the oars with 
all my might, and if I went down I would be breast- 
ing the storm. If it had not been for the prayers 
and sacrifices of a Christian mother, and the en- 
couragement of a devoted cousin, who lived with us, 
I should have failed. That same mother is helping 
her boy to-day by her prayers, although she has 
passed her four score years, and has been an invalid 
for many years. When I arrived in Raleigh, I was 
met on the street by an uncle, and he asked, *' Where 
are you going? " I said, " I am going to Elon Col- 
lege." He turned and walked with me down the 
street until he came to a drug store, and then he 
said, " Come in here for I want to give you some- 
thing." We went in, and he asked for a box of 
soap, and he purchased a box containing three bars 
of soap. He had it wrapped nicely, and we walked 
out, and then he said, " I want to give you this for 



122 College Men ivithout Money 

service and a symbol; keep yourself clean." I do 
not know which he thought I needed the most, the 
soap or the advice, but I know that both were timely, 
and I feel sure I profited by the Incident. 

My first day at college left me almost penniless, 
for I paid five dollars as a matriculation fee, and the 
remaining one dollar and seventy-five cents was in- 
vested in second-hand books, except a few cents re- 
tained to pay postage In writing to my mother and 
my girl. That first week at college was a long one, 
but at last Saturday came, and I dressed and went to 
the depot to go to my Sunday appointment fifty miles 
away. I met one of the professors on my way to 
the station, and he asked me, " Where are you go- 
ing? " My heart sank within me, for I did not 
have a dime in my pocket, but I said, " I am going 
to fill my appointment." Just before I got to the 
depot, for I " walked and was sad," I met a preacher. 
He looked kind, but preachers are generally poor 
men to borrow money from, but I said right out, 
" Brother , loan me one dollar until Mon- 
day." That preacher had the real money, and it 
might have been his last dollar, but he handed it to 
me. It took almost every cent to pay my railroad 
fare, and nothing with which to return. That was 
one time I acted on faith. The church which I was 
serving at that time held a conference on that Sat- 
urday afternoon, and one of the brethren asked that 
they pay up just a little better, as " their pastor was 
in college." They paid me a little more than a 



College Men without Money 123 

dozen dollars that day, and I am sure that I 
preached better than usual on the following day. I 
received one hundred dollars from that church that 
year, and paid twenty-five of that to the railroad 
for transportation. 

That college year was not far spent, when another 
church called me to become pastor at a salary of 
fifty dollars for the year. I had resigned tw'o 
churches before I left home, as they were so far 
from the College that they took more of my time 
than I could give, and the expenses were more than 
the salary paid. My brother gave me most of my 
clothes, and all the help he could, and my churches 
paid other bills. The vacation was spent in evange- 
listic work for which I received a small amount. 
The second year was even more gloomy than the 
first, for the hired man at home had failed to make 
good. Someone had to be found to take his place, 
and it seemed for some time that I would have to be 
the man. After arrangement was made for home 
I began my second year at college with one more 
church, and that one was much nearer and it was 
to pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars as a 
salary. 

It may seem like a small matter to preach three 
Sundays in each month, and attend school, but it is 
hard on all — the professors, the student, and the 
people. With three churches I began the third 
year, but in ten days after I returned to the Col- 
lege I had the misfortune to shoot one of my feet. 



124 College Men without Money 

and a part of the foot had to be taken off, and one- 
half of the year was lost from college. It seemed 
that the way was now blocked entirely, and that 
my college days were at an end; but mother, my 
faithful cousin, and I put our heads together, and 
we decided to move to the College. When we ar- 
rived at Elon College, Christmas of 1897, I was 
still pastor of three churches, but my expenses were 
so much increased that I took the fourth appoint- 
ment at a salary of seventy-five dollars for the year, 
making my salary in all three hundred and fifty dol- 
lars. The remainder of my time at the College I 
preached every Sunday, with few exceptions. 

It does look like a reflection on those churches to 
tell of the small amount paid for preaching, but the 
thing that startles me is, how they were ever able 
to pay what they did for such preaching. I hope 
they feel that they were giving themselves to save 
a poor preacher in college. The amount received 
for preaching did not meet our family expenses, but 
we took a few boarders, and received a little from 
the farm, and the rest I borrowed. The last year 
was a test of faith also, for my strength was hardly 
equal to the task of keeping up with my classes, and 
looking after home duties, and preaching every Sun- 
day, and trying to make up some work missed while 
lame from my accident. Work was piling up, 
churches were paying poorly, grades were poor, and 
the breaking-point almost reached, and it was my 
senior year. I would not let myself think about 



College Men without Money 125 

falling to receive my diploma, but the way was dark. 
The commencement time was coming, and money 
was getting more scarce, and bills more frequent. 
One day a real friend came to me and said, " A man 
trying as hard as you are needs help," and she 
handed me a sum of money. I wept, and she wept 
with me, but I saw through those tears light that I 
had not seen before. 

The day of graduation came on the 14th day of 
June, 1900. It was a glad day, and a sad day, for 
I felt that I had almost reached the goal, but I 
knew that I had not gotten all that I ought to have 
gotten out of my college course. I thought people 
would ask me about my grades, but not one has 
asked me about them yet. I find that folks are not 
interested in what my grades were, but what I can 
do. 

One thing I learned by being at college without 
money, and that was that money Is not essential to 
character. Money cannot cover up badness, neither 
can poverty hide goodness. It Is not a matter of 
how little money you have to get through college, 
for the money Is the smallest part of a college life. 
The less money the better in some cases. It is not 
so much money as it Is great Faith, and a Determina- 
tion. 

Franklin, Virginia. 



FAITHFUL IN LITTLE THINGS 

HON. C. G. SAUNDERS, A.B., LL.D. 

MY father, George W. Saunders, was born in 
England, June 3, 1837. His parents emi- 
grated with their children and settled in Oneida 
County, New York, in the spring of 1852. My 
mother, Mary E. Walker, was also born in Eng- 
land and came with her people in the forties to the 
same county in America, and I presume they should 
properly be placed in that large class of people who 
were "poor but honest"; my maternal grand- 
father, Thomas Walker, became a prosperous 
farmer, and lived to a very old age. Shortly after 
his coming to America, my grandfather, William 
Saunders, became an invalid and my father, being 
the oldest of a large family, was compelled to as- 
sist in earning a livelihood for the family and so 
was deprived of early educational advantages. He 
was a man of strong natural talents, of strict Integ- 
rity, and was commonly known as a " hard-headed 
old Englishman." He became a very successful 
farmer before his death and " passed over the 
grade " financially just as I became of age. My 
sainted mother was a plain, home woman who loved 
her family and her God, and who devoted her life 

126 



College Men without Money 127 

to her family of eight children and her husband. I 
was the oldest child, and was born on the loth day 
of April, 1 861, in Oneida County, New York. In 
1868 my father removed to Iowa City, Iowa, where 
he was a railroad foreman for five years, and during 
those years I attended the graded school when I 
was not sick. In the spring of 1873 my father con- 
cluded he did not desire to rear his boys about a 
railroad, and so settled upon an eighty-acre farm, 
near Stuart, Iowa. At this early age, when I was 
puny and weak, I was forced by the financial condi- 
tion of the family to enter upon the active duties 
of the farm. Many a day have I plowed, when I 
did not possess sufficient strength to pull the plow 
around the corners, and lifted it around by getting 
the handles upon my shoulder. In the spring of 
1876, my father saw that he could make only a bare 
living upon his small farm, so he sold it and removed 
to Vail, Iowa, and settled in the rich and fertile val- 
ley of the Boyer River. At this time he had about 
two thousand dollars, a weak body, and an ambition 
to achieve success. An injury sustained while in 
the railroad employment incapacitated him from do- 
ing the heavy work of the farm, but it did not im- 
pair either his ambition or his energy. I worked 
from seven in the morning until sundown on the 
long summer days behind a heavy team. Mother 
sympathized with me, but father never realized that 
the toil was beyond my strength. He was a firm 
believer in the doctrine of " hard work " and that 



128 College Men without Money 

" Satan finds mischief still for Idle hands to do," and 
governed himself accordingly. He loved his family 
and did the best for them that his means permitted. 

The county was new and people were all poor, 
but the land owners characterized the others as 
" poor renters." For four years we were In the lat- 
ter class. I completed the country school, In the 
spring of 1877, ^^^ ^^^^ desired to enter the Vail 
school, the course of which did not extend beyond 
what would now be classed as the eighth grade. 
We lived three miles from town, and as my people 
could not afford to pay my board in the village, I 
was necessarily compelled to live at home and go 
horseback to school. When I was about sixteen, I 
determined to become a lawyer and so Informed my 
people. They treated the announcement as a boy- 
ish whim, and later discouraged me from entering 
upon such a course. Father urged that I might be- 
come one of those " educated fools " and mother, 
who was a devoted member of the Methodist 
Church, quoted to me that passage of Scripture, 
*' Woe unto ye lawyers." 

Books to the amount of about seven dollars were 
required If I should enter the Vail school and that 
was a large sum of money In our large family. The 
turning point in my life came on a cold December 
day In 1877. I had taken a load of hay to Denlson 
about eight miles away. All the way there and back 
I was pondering over the question of an education. 
When I drove into the yard after returning from 



College Men without Money 129 

town, father came to assist in putting away the 
team. I was stiff with cold, but I said, " Father, I 
am going to Vail to school after New Year's." He 
retorted, " Where is the money to come from for 
the books?" I said, "Father, you spend six dol- 
lars per year for chewing tobacco " (his only bad 
habit) , " and you can afford that much to send your 
boy to school." 

I went to school two and a half months that winter 
and likewise the next two winters. I then secured a 
second-grade certificate and taught a county school 
the two winters preceding my twenty-first birthday. 
Each winter I taught a four months' term — wages 
$30 per month the first winter, and $35 the second. 
The first winter I walked three miles across the 
prairie, cared for a team at home and acted as my 
own janitor at the schoolhouse. This was the aw- 
ful winter of 1880-81, when the snow was four feet 
deep on the level. There were no roads that were 
available to me, and I made my own path. I saved 
one hundred dollars that winter and a like sum the 
following winter, so when I attained my majority 
in April, 1882, I had two hundred dollars. I had 
never had an overcoat and I did not possess even a 
trunk. I owned a colt that I sold for fifty dollars. 
That summer I worked on my father's farm at a 
wage of twenty dollars per month for five months, 
and on September 15, 1882, I started for Drake Uni- 
versity with $350, a suit of clothes and a trunk. I 
had thought by day and dreamed by night of a col- 



130 College Men without Money 

lege education, and now the dream was to become a 
reality. As the train whistled at the station, father 
grasped me by the hand and, with tears streaming 
down his face, said, " Boy, I have opposed this all 
the time, but I guess you are doing the right thing." 
That was the first word of encouragement I had 
ever received from my parents to proceed with my 
education. 

My room, partially furnished, cost me four dol- 
lars per month when I shared it with another, and 
board was $1.75 per week in the " club." We did 
not fare sumptuously, but we had sufficient whole- 
some food to keep us In good health. I did not 
earn any money during the first fall and winter, but 
In the spring I seized an opportunity to earn three 
dollars per week by sweeping six rooms, carrying 
the coal for the same, and ringing the bells for all 
the classes and the college bells from 6 A. m. to 9 
P. M. A watch was necessary for my work, so I 
took part of my hard-earned wages and bought a 
watch which Is now a treasured possession. The 
following summer I worked upon the home farm 
and returned to Drake in the fall. I did janitor work 
during my second year at the same scale of wages. 
I also spent many of my Saturdays grubbing 
stumps out of a lawn near the University. In the 
spring of my second year I worked Saturdays on the 
streets with a shovel, receiving $1.50 for eight hours' 
work. In the spring term of my second year, some 
of my college chums found that my return was doubt- 



College Men without Money 131 

ful; hence they elected me steward of the boarding 
club for the succeeding year. This paid my board 
and room rent during the third year. In the sum- 
mer following my second year, I assumed the role 
of book agent. This experience was not very suc- 
cessful, netting me only about seventy-five dollars 
for my summer's work. 

When I entered Drake University, I had two 
years of preparatory work to do. I carried five 
studies for three years, reciting daily in each. This 
was possible because we had eight class hours of 
forty-five minutes each. As I approached the end 
of my third year, some of my teachers urged me to 
return for another year. I found that by carrying 
six studies all the year I could graduate classical, 
and on the last Sunday night before commencement 
I determined to return, notwithstanding the fact 
that my purse was empty. I worked again on the 
home farm In the summer vacation, and returned in 
the fall with sixty dollars and an assurance of a 
loan of one hundred dollars from my father. The 
University had agreed to take my notes for the tui- 
tion of my senior year, so I returned In the fall of 
1885 not knowing how I should get through the 
year, but confident that In some way I would earn 
some money and complete the course. The evening 
I returned to the University, the secretary of the 
faculty offered me the editorship of the college 
paper. Frank Morgan, of blessed memory, as- 
sumed the business management, and we divided two 



132 College Men without Money 

hundred and forty dollars between us as the profits 
of the venture. A personal friend, who was as poor 
as I, with me rented a furnished room in which we 
kept " bach." I shall not state the amount it cost 
us for fuel, coal oil and food, but it was much less 
than the expense of boarding in the club. I edited 
the paper, carried six studies, and broke down about 
two weeks before commencement. I did not take 
my final examinations, but was awarded my degree 
upon my class standing. I had borrowed the prom- 
ised one hundred dollars from my father, had given 
my notes for my tuition, and when we made our 
final division of profits arising from the paper, I 
had sixty dollars in my pocket and my college de- 
gree. 

Between the winter and spring terms of my senior 
year, I applied for the principalship of the high 
school at Manning, Iowa. For six weeks the board 
was in a deadlock and then it elected the other ap- 
plicant. It was a bitter disappointment, as such po- 
sitions were not numerous and most of them were 
then filled. I planned to teach two years and then 
pursue the study of law. About two weeks before 
commencement, I was offered the principalship of a 
two-room school just outside the corporate limits of 
the city of Des Moines. But I saw, however, that I 
could immediately take up the law, and so about July 
I, 1886, I entered the law oflfiice of C. C. Nourse and 
in the next fourteen months I read the junior year 
of the law course laid down by the State University. 



College Men without Money 133 

In the fall I took charge of my school, but Iread 
law nights, mornings and Saturdays. I was fortu- 
nate in securing board at a very reasonable price. 
By close economy I paid all my debts and had about 
one hundred and fifty dollars left when the fall of 
1887 came. I then entered the State University of 
Iowa, passed the examinations of the junior year, 
became a member of the senior class, and graduated 
in June, 1888. 

Such in brief is the story of my struggle for an 
education. I have written it with the hope that it 
may encourage other young men and young women 
of limited means to make the effort that I made to 
open the gates of opportunity. While the expenses 
have increased, the opportunities for employment 
have multiplied in a much greater ratio, and I am 
fully convinced that any young man or young woman, 
with fair health, may secure a higher education if 
he has it in him and is but willing to pay the price of 
toil and sacrifice. 

Some may inquire, Did It pay? Within one hun- 
dred feet of where I performed janitor work, Drake 
University in 1900 conferred upon me the LL.D 
degree ; three times have I been elected to the State 
Senate. The State Bar Association has honored me 
with Its presidency. 

Council Blufs, Iowa. 



FROM JANITOR TO COLLEGE 
PRESIDENT 

REV. W. W. STALEY, A.B., A.M., D.D., LL.D., EX- 
PRESIDENT OF ELON COLLEGE 

I HAVE been asked to tell why and how I worked 
my way through college. Because there was 
no other way to get through college, but to work 
through, gives the reason why. 

My father, John Tilmon Staley, was a school 
teacher. He died of typhoid fever at twenty-eight, 
when I was five. 

My mother married Archibald M. Cook three 
years after my father's death, and was the mother of 
eight children: three Staleys and five Cooks. 

At the close of the Civil War, emancipation left 
us nothing but land. 

In 1866 my uncle. Lieutenant J. N. H. Clendenin, 
proposed that if I would work with him on his farm 
he would send me to Dr. W. S. Long's school in 
Graham the next winter. My stepfather said he 
was not able to send me to school, but he would give 
me my time. I worked on the farm that summer 
and entered school January 17, 1867, and walked 
three miles to school that term. 

At the end of that term, Dr. W. S. Long proposed 
134 



College Men without Money 135 

to furnish me board, clothes and tuition, if I would 
live with him and provide wood, keep rooms in 
order, build fires, cultivate the garden, milk cows, 
feed horses, and cultivate a small crop in summer 
vacation. I accepted and entered his service in Sep- 
tember, 1867. I hauled wood two miles, cut and 
placed same in place for fourteen fires, swept school- 
rooms and built fires ; attended to horses, cows, and 
garden; went to the country for feed, flour, meat, 
and live beef and butchered it; cultivated vegetables, 
potatoes, and corn in summer; did siMdry errands for 
Dr. Long; and recited lessons when other duties did 
not prevent, and kept up with my classes. 

In 1869 I taught the Graham Public School and 
in the spring I entered the store of Col. A. C. Mc- 
Alister in Company Shops (now Burlington) as 
clerk. In addition to my store duties, and with the 
consent of my employer, I attended to the morning 
express train and sale of tickets at four o'clock. 
My pay as clerk was board, laundry, and $10.00 
per month; and I received $10.00 per month for 
attending to the early morning express train. At 
the end of the year Col. McAlister paid me $5.00 
per month more than he had promised. 

In the spring of 1871, I spent four months more 
in the Graham School, and entered the sophomore 
class in Trinity College, N. C, in September, 1871. 
I graduated from Trinity in June, 1874, in a class of 
thirteen. 

The first half year in Trinity I boarded myself 



136 College Men without Money 

by renting a room from a minister whose wife pre- 
pared meals for me and another young man, who is 
a distinguished judge. The son of the good woman 
who prepared our meals worked his way through 
college by sweeping rooms and building fires. He 
became a fine judge. 

Two years and a half I boarded on credit with 
W. S. Bradshaw and his good wife. At the end 
of the spring term of 1872, Mr. Bradshaw asked me 
if I was coming back in the fall. I told him I 
would have to stop and make some money and 
would come again. He replied: "I will board 
you till you get through, and wait with you for the 
money." I said, " I have no seciirity to give you." 
He replied, " I will trust you and take the risk." 

After I finished I paid for my board with inter- 
est, paid my tuition in full (though the college did 
not charge ministerial students), and made a dona- 
tion of $100 to the college. In addition to this, I 
secured a $100 subscription from each of the other 
twelve members of our class to be paid in four equal 
annual instalments after graduation. 

Friends and churches aided me in the sum of two 
hundred and forty-nine dollars. Since then I have 
paid to the church in cash more than twice as many 
thousands as I received hundreds. 

After leaving College seven hundred dollars in 
debt, I taught with Rev. D. A. Long and Judge B. 
F. Long in Graham, and preached as assistant pas- 
tor of New Providence Church till 1877, when I 



College Men without Money 137 

entered the University of Virginia. That was the 
only institution where I accepted free tuition; but I 
paid all other fees. 

About the easiest task of my life was to work 
through college; and, if I may make one remark, it 
would be that the danger of schools is to make edu- 
cation too easy. The armor used by Roman sol- 
diers in camp exercises was twice the weight of that 
which they used in battle. This made battle easy 
as compared with drill. It seems to me that col- 
lege life ought to develop human powers by double 
strain so as to prepare for life's big task. Hot- 
house methods cannot make men of greatest en- 
durance and usefulness. That is why so many men 
drop out suddenly in the prime of life. They can- 
not stand the strain of great public service. 

Suffolk, Fa. 



STARTING WITH FIVE DOLLARS 

I GRADUATED from high school in 1907 with 
less than $5 left from my previous summer's 
earnings. Although, when younger, school attend- 
ance had been distasteful to me, I was now fully de- 
termined to get a college education, and that with- 
out asking financial aid from my parents. I had 
been reared on a farm and was used to hard work; 
but I felt that my education should now count for 
something, and that I should be able to get some- 
thing better than manual labor. I made a complete 
canvass of the town and obtained offers of two very 
lucrative positions. The first on a local paper (I 
had already made some progress in learning the 
printer's trade) at the enormous salary of $2.50 per 
week, and the other as assistant bill clerk in a whole- 
sale house at $3 per week. I decided to accept the 
latter, as it offered the better chance of a quick rise, 
but the offer was rescinded before I could accept it. 
I then returned to the paper, but found that they no 
longer needed a " devil." I saw then that it was 
the overalls for me. 

My first position was In a lumber camp in the 
Smoky Mountains at $1.40 per day of eleven hours. 
Next I took work with a gang engaged in grading 

138 



College Men without Money 139 

at $1.25 per day. It was in July and slightly 
" warm around the edges," but I was getting along 
fairly well when I was offered the position of 
*' devil " on the other local paper at $4 per week. 
I accepted. 

I worked for this paper for over two years and 
my wages were steadily raised. Our week con- 
sisted of fifty- four hours, but I frequently worked 
from ten to twenty hours a week overtime. In addi- 
tion to walking back and forth from my country 
home and doing the chores night and morning. I 
frequently spent only my pay for overtime, and de- 
posited all of my regular salary in the bank. 

I well remember the fall of 1908, when. In a big 
rush the other two printers got on a big drunk and 
quit, thus leaving the whole burden on me. The 
strain was heavy, but I stood it and as a result got 
the foreman's place long before I had served a four 
years' apprenticeship. By the summer of 1909 I 
had saved $575. I had never commanded a large 
salary, as I quit just when I was becoming efficient 
enough to hold down a position in a bigger office. 
I was offered a chance to learn the linotype, but re- 
fused and entered college in September. 

I did no outside work until the following spring 
when I started to working In a local printing office 
at odd times. I picked up $25 in this way. Dur- 
ing my sophomore year I made $50, and started 
with the same work in my junior year, but was of- 
fered work correcting English papers and made $60 



140 College Men without Money 

in this way during the year. The first summer out 
of college I worked at my trade and saved about 
$100. The next summer I took an agency with the 
Aluminum Cooking Utensil Co., which has, I sup- 
pose, helped more boys through college than any 
other one company. I was absolutely inexperienced 
as a salesman, but worked hard and cleared $200. 
The next summer I took the same work, but as I had 
secured an instructorship which would pay the ex- 
penses of my senior year, I " loafed on the job " and 
saved only $75. I have since sincerely regretted this 
wasted summer. 

By these financial means, . without any assistance 
whatsoever, I completed my college course, and on 
the day of graduation I could have paid all of my 
debts and railway fare home, and still have had $25 
to my credit, or $20 more than I had when I fin- 
ished high school. 

When I landed in my college town I knew ab- 
solutely no one and, although I had very little money 
to spend and the college has the reputation of being 
somewhat aristocratic, I haven't made such a bad 
record. In my freshman year I won the English 
scholarship ; in my sophomore year the history schol- 
arship ; and in my junior year the endowed scholar- 
ship, under which I took the instructorship. I have 
served as president of the literary society and have 
twice represented It on public celebrations. I have 
been on the intercollegiate debate, and was elected 
to the position of valedictorian by the senior class. 



College Men without Money 141 

I was also elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa 
and Delta Sigma Rho (both honorary). I men- 
tion these facts merely to show that a fellow with- 
out money need not be denied an active part in col- 
lege life and activities. 

In looking back over the past six years I attri- 
bute my ability to do what I have done to perse- 
verance and good health. Too much emphasis can- 
not be laid upon the latter. Any young American 
with determination, good health and reasonably good 
sense, who has no one else dependent upon him, can 
get a college education to-day. — ''ZANK REIN." 

Lexington, Va. 



FROM GOOD TO BETTER 

REV. W. E. SWAIN, D.D. 

I WAS born and reared on a little farm In Wash- 
ington County, N. C, near the present site of 
Creswell. My father was poor. Four years of 
service and suffering In the Confederate army so 
wrecked his health that he was able to do but little 
after It was all over. 

There were no schools of any consequences near, 
and had there been, they were barred to me, for my 
father was not able to pay tuition, and there were 
no public schools in that section. 

When I was nearly fifteen years old a gentleman 
living near by employed me to grub new ground. 
This work had to be done at night after my day's 
work at home. By piling the brush and firing them 
two hours' work could be done before the light was 
entirely gone. It took about eight nights to do a 
" task " which was a piece of ground sixty feet 
square. After having finished three tasks, the gen- 
tleman paid me. With the money so earned a bot- 
tle of Ink, six pen points, half quire of paper, a pen 
staff and a " blue-back speller " were purchased. 
The speller was necessary that the script letters 
might be learned. Having made a small rough ta- 

142 



College Men without Money 143 

ble In which a drawer was placed to hold writing ma- 
terial, the task of learning to write was begun. To 
me this was much more dilHicult than grubbing. Even 
after I had learned to make the script letters I did 
not know how to spell. As a substitute for this 
lack more than half the speller was copied. By the 
time this was done some of the simpler words had 
been learned and so I began to write. About the 
same time I undertook to work " sums " in Green- 
lief's Arithmetic. This was painfully slow. Ben. 
Spruill, now Capt. Spruill, of Creswell, N. C, 
taught me to reduce a fraction to a common denom- 
inator. This was done with the sharp point of a 
cotton burr, the figures being made in the sand be- 
tween the rows of cotton. 

On August 12, 1880, I arrived at Yadkin College, 
now Yadkin College Institute, engaged board, ma- 
triculated and began to cast about for some work. 
Mr. James Benson, long since dead, was a large 
merchant of the place and employed me to make 
drawers to place under the shelves in the store. I 
made the first one the best I could and tried to make 
every drawer better than the preceding one. [This 
work was done on Saturdays, and when It was fin- 
ished he employed me to stay In the store on Satur- 
days and paid me really more than I was worth. 
Soon his health failed and I was out of a job. On 
March 24, 1881, I began work at house carpentry 
and tried to keep up my studies by sitting up late 
at night preparing the lessons for the next day. At 



144 College Men without Money 

commencement I had my speech prepared and stood 
my examinations, passing on all but one study. 
During the vacation of 1881 I taught school and 
saved a few dollars to begin the next term. 

When school opened this was soon gone and some- 
thing had to be done. A small unused room was 
secured, a pair of scissors, two razors, a comb and 
brush and a barber shop was opened. The boys 
were kind and long suffering, so the business pros- 
pered. Thus another term was finished, — and no 
debt. Again during the vacation of 1882 I taught. 
At the close of this vacation I was elected town con- 
stable. This was by no means to my liking, but 
something had to be done, or quit. This business 
frequently broke into my school work and made it 
hard to keep abreast of the class. However, In this 
way I managed to pay expenses for the term and 
saved a few dollars besides. During the vacation 
of 1883 I taught school near Denver, N. C, and 
in the meantime served as pastor of Fairfeld Church. 
Both together made it possible for me to have more 
money than I ever had at one time before. 

On returning to college at the close of vacation 
I was elected a tutor. In this way I earned ten dol- 
lars a month and kept up my own studies. This 
work was more in keeping with my general taste 
than anything I had hitherto tried. It was a fine 
opportunity to review what I had done and was per- 
fectly agreeable to me. The amount thus earned 
was ample for all my real needs, and so the difficul- 



College Men without Money 145 

ties began to give way. Hope that had been grop- 
ing amid the shadows began to mount up, and resolu- 
tion grew strong. Thus, sustained by a kind Provi- 
dence and encouraged by friends, my college course 
was finished. 

I feel that this would be incomplete were I to 
omit to speak of Rev. John Parris, D.D., who gave 
me so much encouragement and help. When I was 
yet a boy, never having been to school a day, he, 
somehow, learned that I was anxious to read. 
Knowing I had no books he would borrow them 
from Capt. T. J. Norman, becoming personally re- 
sponsible for their safe return, and bring them to 
me. When bringing them he would say, " Now, 
young sir, if you damage this book I may not bring 
you another." He not only brought the books, but 
would question me on the contents when he returned. 
He was a man who seemed stern and repulsive to 
the young, but when better known was as gentle and 
sweet spirited, loving and tender and patient as a 
mother. 

Mehane, N. C. 



A TASK WITH A MORAL 

HON. FRED J. TRAYNOR, A.B., LL.B. 

THERE Is nothing remarkable about my expe- 
rience In working my way through college. I 
do not deem it worth the telling, except that it may 
help to encourage the boy who thinks that it is more 
than he dares undertake to obtain an education with- 
out means to back him. 

I was born in Ontario, Canada. I was fortunate 
In being able to get an excellent common school 
training and three years of high school work before 
having to get out and dig for myself. Since the age 
of fifteen, when my father died, I have been at all 
times self-supporting, and, before coming to North 
Dakota at the age of twenty, I had taken such em- 
ployment as was obtainable. In the summer of 
1898 I had saved enough money to make the trip 
to North Dakota, looking for opportunities. 
Teaching seemed to be the most feasible stepping- 
stone, so that fall, after having spent three months 
as a farm laborer in this State, and having saved 
what I had earned, which, together with a little I 
had left of what I had brought from Ontaria, made 
about $90, I entered the preparatory department 

146 



College Men without Money 147 

then in existence at the University of North Dakota. 

It was a month after the opening of the school 
year when I entered school that year with the idea 
of taking a winter course for teachers in order that 
I might take the state examinations for a teacher's 
certificate in the spring. Instead of taking the 
course intended, however, I fitted in as nearly as I 
could to the regular course of study for the last year 
of the preparatory department and used what spare 
time I could obtain to study the common branches 
upon which I would have to take examination for a 
teacher's certificate. By close application to busi- 
ness I was able to carry along the regular course of 
study and also to secure the coveted teacher's certifi- 
cate in the spring. 

I left the University that spring at the end of the 
winter term, March 22, or thereabouts, and taught 
school from then until about the last week in Octo- 
ber. I left the University on Friday and com- 
menced the term of school on the following Mon- 
day and had no vacation during the summer; and, 
in addition to that, I succeeded in obtaining the per- 
mission of the school board that had employed me 
to teach six days a week during the last five weeks 
in order that I might get back to the University a 
week earlier than otherwise. My salary was $40 
per month. I had barely scraped through from No- 
vember I until March 22 on that ninety dollars, and 
had to make a loan of twenty dollars from a friend 
to tide me over until I got a month's salary. At the 



148 College Men without Money 

end of the term of school I had paid back the $20 
and saved about $110. 

During the spring term of the University, while 
I was teaching, I continued my studies as if I had 
been at the University, endeavoring to do the same 
work that my class-mates at school were doing and 
reporting from time to time to the professors. I 
burned midnight oil many nights, but North Dakota 
spring weather is healthful and invigorating, and I 
gained flesh on it and was able to take the examina- 
tion with my classmates in June to get better than 
a pass mark in all subjects. Then I commenced on 
the subjects I expected to begin on in the fall, as I 
knew I would be about a month late entering col- 
lege. 

The story of my life for the next twelve months 
is much a repetition of the previous year, except that 
I did not have the extra work of preparing for 
teacher's examination. I had to borrow about $36 
to tide me over until I got my first month's salary, 
but I paid this back during the summer and returned 
to school late in the fall as usual with about $120. 
The following spring, in fact, before the winter 
term had ended, I was " broke," as each year seemed 
a little more costly than the previous. President 
Webster Merrifield, then and for many years pre- 
vious at the head of our University, was the good 
angel who came to my rescue. Every boy was his 
friend and he was the friend of every boy in the In- 
stitution. Always looking for an opportunity to 



College Men without Money 149 

help those he thought worthy, he divined my need 
and offered to help me with a loan that would tide 
me over the spring term. At first I declined the 
tender of aid, but later thought better of it and ac- 
cepted a loan of $60 and gave my note, payable one 
year after the expected date of my graduation. 
That summer I took a position as timekeeper for an 
extra gang doing surfacing work on the line of the 
Great Northern Railway in Minnesota and returned 
to school at the opening of the school year that fall 
with about $75 ahead. 

The University of North Dakota, at that time, 
had about two hundred and fifty students, including 
those in the preparatory department. A little book 
store and postoffice was conducted by students in 
one of the University buildings. President Merrl- 
field controlled the appointment of the postmaster 
and manager of the book store, but the students get- 
ting the positions had to finance the book store them- 
selves. I applied for and received appointment in 
the book store and postofEce, and retained an inter- 
est in it during the three years following. I had to 
do some skirmishing to borrow $100 to add to my 
$75 to provide my share of the capital necessary to 
make advance payments on our stock of books, and 
was denied a loan from friends I thought knew me 
well enough to trust me. Again a generous pro- 
fessor in the person of the dean of the college of 
arts came to my aid and made me the loan. I shall 
not soon forget his kindness. 



150 College Men without Money 

During those last three years of my college days 
while completing the courses of arts and law I was 
able, writing life insurance among the students as a 
side line in addition to doing my share of the busi- 
ness in the book store and postoffice, to make my 
entire expenses and leave school free from debt. 

Devil's Lake, N. D. 



FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 
BULLETIN 

BENJAMIN EITELGEORGE arrived at Uni- 
versity Park the 6th of September, 1905, 
with $45.00 on hand. He took the severely plain 
quarters in the basement of University Hall and 
worked for his room rent and tuition. He did his 
work well. He went from house to house in search 
of work for Saturdays and afternoons. At first 
no one seemed to need him. Later on, however, 
there was all the work offered which he could do, 
in house-cleaning and other work, at twenty cents an 
hour. He won a prize in that first year and was 
made head janitor at the college. In the second and 
third terms he had the care of a cow and a furnace. 
So the first year closed with a new sense of self-re- 
liance. 

In the summer he went to summer school, work- 
ing for his tuition, and had the care of a cow, pony 
and lawn for his room and $15.00 per month. 

In the fall he was made head janitor at $15.00 per 
month, with room rent and tuition added. Satur- 
days he had all the outside work he could do. This 
brought him through the year in comfort and with a 
still deeper sense of self-reliance. 

151 



152 College Men without Money 

Now he was given charge of the church at Black 
Hawk, on request of the people there who had heard 
him preach, and he has kept that service for four 
years. Indeed, the people at Black Hawk desire to 
have him appointed as their pastor for life. He 
now preaches at three places each Sunday. Of 
course, this left Mr. Eitelgeorge no opportunity to 
get into all sorts of college sports. He took part 
in all inter-class games, however, where the object 
in view is the pure fun of the game. He was active 
In the debating club, and made the honorary de- 
bating fraternity, Tau Kappa Alpha. He was con- 
spicuous in all the Christian activities of the college. 
Mr. Eitelgeorge says he enjoyed college life as 
much as any student who ever went to college, and 
that he would not take anything for the experience 
and satisfaction of having worked his way through 
college. He was graduated with the A.B. degree 
in 1911. 

This sort of discipline creates men who can do 
things. If Benjamin Eitelgeorge were shipwrecked 
on an island which was peopled by rude savages he 
would know what to do at once. With a prayer in 
his heart, and that everlasting smile on his face, he 
would begin at once at the task of creating a Chris- 
tian nation out of the raw material. And in twen- 
ty-five years he would have trade relations with 
other countries, an ambassador of his government 
at Washington, and a Christian college, with the 
whole faculty from the class of 191 1 in the Uni- 
versity of Denver. 



College Men without Money 153 

John F. Sinclair's story reads like a romance. 
In February last he made an address at the Denver 
Y. M. C. A. to the high school and working boys on 
*' How to Work One's Way Through College." 
From that speech the following facts are taken: 
Mr. Sinclair came to University Park with Mr. 
Eitelgeorge from New Mexico in September of 
1905. He had $20 in his pocket and plenty of 
pluck, but with no certain ideas about how he could 
make a living. He went with Eitelgeorge In that 
first canvass for work, but no one seemed to want 
them. There were plenty of discouragements at 
the start, but presently he had more work offered 
than he could do. He roomed in the basement of 
University Hall and did honest work to earn his 
tuition and room rent. At that time we had a boys' 
club where the fellows kept in prime condition on 
two dollars a week. For two years he made his 
way with odd jobs. He " waited on tables, washed 
dishes, cooked meals, scrubbed floors, washed win- 
dows, cleaned furnaces, built fires, chopped wood, 
beat rugs (the most despised job in the curriculum), 
cut out weeds, mowed lawns, spaded gardens, 
painted, calcimined, solicited, sold peanuts and pop- 
corn, ran errands^, etc." 

This sort of discipline for two years made him 
very self-reliant and resourceful. Now he found 
more permanent sort of work. One year he served 
as boys' secretary in the North Side Y. M. C. A. 
In another he made good money in charge of a laun- 



154 College Men without Money 

dry agency. In the following year, his fifth, he did 
janitor work in the city in a down-town office build- 
ing. In his sixth year he has made a good living in 
teaching mechanical drawing at night in a country 
high school and has sold mail boxes. He cleared 
several hundred dollars in one summer selling books 
to the farmers in Kansas. Sinclair says that some 
of his friends have done well In carrying papers on 
regular routes, In reporting for newspapers, In play- 
ing musical Instruments, In growing mushrooms and 
in tutoring. He says jobs come to the fellow who' 
sticks and works. Each year he has found it easier 
than the year before, and each year he has had more 
profitable work than the year before. He wears 
good clothes and lives In a first-class college room 
now. Sinclair played on the college baseball team 
four years, and, of course, was in all the Interclass 
games of his class. He made his " D " in baseball. 
He counted It his first duty to make his living, his 
next duty to keep a high rank in his classes, and his 
third duty to get into such athletic sports as were 
possible to him and necessary to his health. 

The popular conception of a student who earns 
his living is that he is a lank and lean boy who burns 
the midnight oil in a poor room In an attic. Sin- 
clair says he found It profitable and conducive to 
health to live in an airy room and to sleep seven or 
eight hours every night. So he has been In superb 
health every day since he came to college. Sinclair 
believes in concentration and In being wide awake. 



College Men without Money 155 

The rest of this story must be reported in his own 
words : 

" In spite of my participation in athletics and in 
other activities, and although I've worked hard for 
a living, and even though I've never burned the mid- 
night oil and never studied on Sunday, yet I've made 
high grades, averaging over ninety. I count myself 
only an ordinary chap, too. Get your lessons day 
by day and you will find time for other important 
things. 

" I took part in the other activities of the Uni- 
versity. I sang in the glee club one year; was a 
member of the Y. M. C. A. cabinet almost every 
year; was president of the freshman class; acted as 
treasurer of the debating club; served on the stu- 
dents' commission; was yell-master last fall; and 
besides was actively engaged in church work. It is 
the old story that the more you do the more time 
you find in which to do. This active school life 
prepares one for strenuous life in the world. How- 
ever, there is great danger in overdoing this matter. 
College life should be secondary to your studies. 
We go to college to learn and we must not sacrifice 
our mental and spiritual training for minor things. 
A man should not neglect his social training, either, 
but this, too, is a secondary matter. 

*' The working student is treated as a social equal 
by most people in most colleges. I have never been 
snubbed. On the contrary, I have become a mem- 
ber of one of the national fraternities ; I have dined 



1^6 College Men without Money 

with a professor's family often; when I was janitor 
in the city the people called me Mr. Sinclair and not 
Mr. Janitor; I was welcome company to the best 
girls in college. A working student is highly re- 
spected if he conducts himself as a gentleman should. 
" In conclusion I would offer these suggestions : 
If you have a strong desire to secure an education, 
to serve the world efficiently, and are free from ill 
health and family encumbrances, go to some educa- 
tional institution with a determination to stick it out. 
Have faith in yourself, in your fellow-men, and in 
God. If you are a Christian your struggle will not 
be so hard. I cannot give too much weight to my 
religion as a factor in making my college work suc- 
cessful and my life happy. I doubt whether I could 
have withstood without my faith in God." 



THE FRATERNITY OF WORKERS 

REV. EDWARD VAN RUSCHEN, A.B. 

DURING the winter of 1897-8, after a cam- 
paign lasting for more than two years, I came 
to my last stand and finally surrendered to the call 
of Jesus Christ to enter the Gospel ministry. I had 
completed the eighth grade in my fourteenth year 
and had spent two or three years working with my 
father at the carpenter's trade. I began now to 
gather information about colleges and the cost of 
getting an education. I soon found that to wait 
until I could earn enough money to pay my way 
through college would take a long time. I had no 
friends or relatives to help me pay even a part of 
such an expense, and I realized that I must either 
work my way through or give up my vocation. The 
long and bitter struggle that preceded my decision 
to become a minister left me but one alternative. I 
was determined to get an education which would fit 
me for the work I had chosen. I felt that a min- 
ister must know men as well as books, and that what- 
ever would give me a touch with folks as they are 
would add to future efficiency. I liked work, car- 
penter work or any other kind. I had never known 
what it was not to work, even as a child, and so it 

157 



158 College Men without Money 

was but natural that I should look about for an op- 
portunity to work while attending school. This is 
why I worked my way through college. 

One man's need is often another's opportunity. In 
the fall of 1898 the Synod of South Dakota found it 
necessary to close its university at Pierre, after a long 
struggle against great odds. It was finally decided 
that its academy at Scotland should also be closed 
and a new institution started at Huron, the best lo- 
cation available. Huron had a large four-story 
brick hotel building unoccupied for several years. 
This building became the home of the synod's new 
educational venture and became known as Huron 
College. Rev. C. H. French, the President of 
Scotland Academy, became the new president of 
Synod's College. I had become acquainted with 
President French during the summer of 1898, and 
with the opening of Huron College he found an 
opportunity for me to help put the old hotel build- 
ing in shape. So it happened that I landed in 
Huron, South Dakota, about December i, 1898, 
having about $25 in money and my chest of tools. 
I went to work at once repairing and remodeling 
the college building, and for five years I was the 
college carpenter {ex-officio) . I had been there 
about two weeks when one of the boys, Ray Sco- 
field, found a place for me in a small hotel where 
I received room and board for three or four hours' 
work a day waiting on tables, buying provisions, etc. 
I remained in this hotel three school years. Rail- 



College Men without Money 159 

road men and other common laborers were the 
boarders at this hotel, and I learned to know this 
class of men In a very Intimate way. Odd jobs of 
carpenter work, or perchance scrubbing office floors, 
carrying coal, cleaning rugs or cutting wood, added 
a little now and then to my cash account. During 
the first two summer vacations I worked with my 
father and helped him to carry the unequal burdens 
of life. During the summer of 1900 I read Latin 
In the evenings and made up one year's required 
work In that subject, thus enabling me to graduate 
from the academy department the following com- 
mencement. 

In the spring of 1899 I signed the Student Vol- 
unteer Declaration, and began to look forward to 
service on foreign mission fields. I had become 
active In Y. M. C. A. work, and became treasurer 
of the local association. During the fall I began 
to give talks to Sunday schools held in country 
schoolhouses, and In December, 1900, I took charge 
of a country church about thirty-five miles from 
Huron, preaching regularly every two weeks. 
Often the alternate Sunday would find me supplying 
some other pulpit near Huron. This added a little 
to my Income, and gave me plenty of opportunity 
for studying different kinds of people as well as 
learning how to reach them through preaching. 
From this time forward there was rarely a Sunday 
that I was not out of the city preaching somewhere. 
The school year of 1901-2 I spent at home working 



i6o College Men without Money 

with my father, though I continued to preach on 
Sundays. When I returned to my school work in 
the fall of 1902 I was absent from my classes for 
over a month at the request of the president, in 
order that I might be able to fit up additional dormi- 
tory rooms on the fourth floor. I might have paid 
my way through college that year, but my habits of 
work made the boarding club less desirable for me. 
I rented a room in a private home and secured work 
at a large cafe where I received my board for wait- 
ing at table three hours a day. I took great delight 
in study, just for its own sake, and found in my out- 
side work a wholesome check to the tendency to 
forget that books and real people are often very far 
apart. The claims of both were ever present with 
me, and to respond to them both I found it necessary 
to keep on working. That became another reason 
why I worked my way through college. 

There are perhaps few men in whom poverty ex- 
tinguishes the desire to give to others. It is one 
of the prerogatives of free sovereign manhood to 
bestow gifts on others. This is one of the primitive 
instincts that remains amid the evolutionary changes 
of the human race. Under the influence of Jesus 
it has become a form of the highest act of worship. 
It was this impulse that led me to form habits of 
giving in college. In looking over my college ac- 
counts now, I find that during those seven years I 
gave to church, missions, Y. M. C. A. and other 
objects from $500 to $800 in money. In addition 



College Men without Money i6i 

I paid my own expenses to the Student Summer 
Conferences at Lake Geneva, Wis., three times, at- 
tended the International Y. M. C. A. Convention 
at Buffalo, N. Y., and the International Student Vol- 
unteer Convention at Toronto, Ont., all at my own 
expense. At the close of my college work I had a 
library of several hundred volumes. Now, after 
eight years, I can look back and feel that were I to 
do it over again I would, without hesitation, follow 
a similar plan. I am now jfinding almost constantly 
that my college experiences are to my advantage in 
many ways. 

To the young men and women who may read this 
brief story I would say: Be never afraid of work, 
but honor it by doing it in the very best manner pos- 
sible. Add to your strength, efficiency, to efficiency 
a noble purpose, and with it all be loyal to Jesus 
Christ whose moral grandeur and spiritual trans- 
cendence have made the honest laborer a member of 
the world's best aristocracy. 

In the hope that this story may nerve another for 
the struggle to breast the current which sweeps hu- 
manity onward, 'mid hopes and fears, 'mid agonies 
and tears, to destinies unknown ; and with the prayer 
that the vision of far off success may inspire another 
to do and dare in the search after Education's Holy 
Grail, I send forth this little message to all who 
belong to the great fraternity of Workers. 

Plankinton, S. D. 



HOW THE PHYSICAL SIDE HELPED 

HON. FRANK C. WADE, LL.B. 

IN the summer of 1903, at the age of twenty-five 
and with very little high school training, I deter- 
mined to go to college. I had no money and my 
people were too poor to give me anything but en- 
couragement. I had taught one country school and 
spent one summer in the West selling maps, but the 
most I could scrape together, in addition to experi- 
ence, was a slight equipment of clothing and $30 
in money. With these stored in my old trunk, I 
landed in Bloomington, Indiana, a few days early 
to report for football practice and to look for work. 
I was given a try-out at football before any arrange- 
ment was made for permanent quarters. 

I shall never forget that first afternoon football 
practice. Nature had been kind to me in giving me 
a strong body and good judgment, and I felt I could 
tackle any fellow that ever carried the pig-skin. I 
was well seasoned, having spent the summer work- 
ing on the section, and it was lucky that I was. We 
kicked and fell on the ball for a while and then the 
coach lined us up for a little line-bucking. This was 
in the days when the line man on the football team 
selected his opponent who played opposite him and 

162 



College Men without Money 163 

fought it out with him. The modern, open and 
better style of football had not yet invaded the game. 
I had always played the position of tackle and it 
was there I was tried out that first afternoon. Cap- 
tain Clevenger took the back field to run down punts 
and Goach " Jimmie " Horn took us heavyweights 
for a little line-bucking. I happened to be the only 
lineman that was an unknown quantity to " Jimmie " 
and he promptly proceeded to get acquainted, in the 
peculiar way that coaches sometimes have. He first 
lined me up against " Cube," but as he was fat and 
soft from his summer vacation, he was put to snap- 
ping the ball and Smith, Shirk and I tried it. I was 
not tried out much on the defensive that day but 
was asked to open up a hole between that big tackle 
and guard for the man who was coming through 
with the ball just behind me. We worked at that 
for about an hour. I do not know how well I suc- 
ceeded but there never was a time after that first 
practice that I ever feared losing a place on the 
team. 

The coach and manager knew of my financial con- 
dition and, as that was the days of the training table, 
my first job was purveyor for the training table. It 
was really the best snap I ever had. All I had to 
do was to collect the money from the other fellows 
at the end of the week and turn it over to the man- 
ager. Things moved along well until the football 
season was over and the training table broke up. I 
then took the job of waiting on a table and washing 



164 College Men without Money 

dishes at one of the high-priced boarding clubs. 
This lasted until I was given a job by a friend. 

One Sunday afternoon when I was feeling un- 
usually blue, because of the fact that my books and 
incidentals had drawn very heavily on my $30 col- 
lege fund, one of my friends, a senior by the name 
of Payne, called in to see me. Just as he was leav- 
ing he handed me a $5 bill and said that " Jake " 
Buskirk had sent it to me and said to tell me that 
he admired my playing and wanted to make me a 
little present. I shall never forget the feeling I had 
when I realized that it meant he was giving me $5. 
I was overjoyed at getting the much needed five, 
but studied for a long time whether I should keep 
it or return It. I felt a little like I was being bribed. 
However, when I invoiced my assets the feeling 
somewhat subsided and I decided to keep it, but for 
a long time I told only one or two of my very best 
friends about it. [That was the first I knew there 
was such a fellow as " Jake " Buskirk, but the next 
afternoon at practice, in compliance with his prom- 
ise, my friend Payne was there and gave me a real 
introduction to " Jake." I do not know just what I 
said; I only know that I tried to thank him and 
thought that he looked like the best man I had ever 
seen. I met him a number of times afterwards that 
season and later became very Intimately acquainted 
with him and I have never yet changed my first opin- 
ion of him. Before Christmas " Jake " asked me 
how I would like to come up and stay with him and 



College Men without Money 165 

take care of his furnace and horse. He explained 
that he had a large roomy house and could fix up 
a room for me without much trouble. I was glad 
of the opportunity and made my home with his fam- 
ily, which consisted of himself, his good wife, one 
of those splendid Southern ladies, and his two boys, 
Kearney and Nat. At the end of the winter term, 
however, my money was gone and my clothes were 
worn. I determined to leave school and work until 
the beginning of the following year. 

During my short stay at Bloomington, I had met 
and made many friends who were anxious to assist 
me in any way they could. 

When I left school I took a job as brakeman on 
the Illinois Central, but as I had to provide for extra 
board I made very little more than expenses. When 
school opened in the fall I accepted a position as 
teacher in the city schools of Linton, Indiana. 

In the spring of 1905 I learned through some of 
my friends at Bloomington that there would be an 
opening in the Co-Op, the university book store. I 
immediately applied for the position and obtained 
it. I had saved up a little money and stocked up In 
clothes. When I entered school In the fall of 1905 
I felt like a new man, full of hope. 

The Co-Op was a book store owned and operated 
by the University for the benefit of the students and, 
aside from a business manager who was a member 
of the University office force, it was managed by 
students. It took three to run it. By dividing our 



1 66 College Men without Money 

time we were able to attend our classes and keep the 
Co-Op open from nine to twelve in the morning, 
and from two to five in the afternoon. We were 
paid on a per cent, basis. With what money I could 
make during my vacations I was able to graduate in 
the class of 1908, receiving the degree of LL.B. 

We do not go to college merely to develop our 
mental self, but we have a physical and social self 
which I believe is as essential to train and develop 
while in college as is the mental. I have always 
been a large, strong physical fellow and many of 
my less fortunate companions have laughed at the 
notion that my college training has helped me physi- 
cally; but, my college has done as much for me both 
physically and socially as it did mentally, and I be- 
lieve the former two are as important elements in 
a young man's make-up as is the latter. Thanks to 
my college athletics, I contracted physical and men- 
tal habits that have made me a better and more 
useful man and I think will prolong life several years. 

I was one of the more fortunate self-supporting 
men while in college and, while I do not disclaim 
all credit for sticking to it and pulling through, yet 
I often wonder if I would to-day be the proud pos- 
sessor of a college diploma had I been small of 
stature and not able to make good on the gridiron. 

Fredonia, Kans. 



THE WAY ALWAYS OPEN 

C. M. WALTERS, A.B., PH;B., M.A., M.D. 

AFTER attending the Burlington High School 
one year and spending all the money I had 
except one dollar, I decided to take a business course 
In Elon College. I arranged with Dr. J. U. New- 
man, Dean of the Faculty, to get my tuition, room 
rent, fuel, and light for ringing the College bell. I 
also collected and distributed laundry to help pay 
my expenses. With the money collected in this way 
and from doing other small jobs about the College, 
I succeeded in paying all my expenses for the first 
five months except $6^. I secured my diploma In 
the Business Course in June, 1900. 

Realizing that my preparation in English was not 
sufficient for me to command the best positions in the 
business world, I decided to take the regular college 
course. So in September, 1900, my brother and I 
organized the first boarding Club at Elon College. 
I was elected manager to collect for board, buy all 
provisions, hire a cook, and have general oversight 
of the Club, all for the small salary of one dollar a 
week. I still held my job as laundry agent, but I 
gave up my position as bell boy for the College. By 
sweeping, dusting, lighting, and building fires In the 

167 



i68 College Men without Money 

Psiphellan Society Hall I made twenty-five cents a 
week. I was also janitor for the Philologian So- 
ciety part of the time at the same salary, and two 
years later when the acetylene gas lights took the 
place of the old oil lamps in the Society Halls, I had 
charge of the gas generator, which paid one dollar 
a month. I also made stretchers for the art room 
and did other small jobs of carpenter work, cut 
wood, and did most any little job I could get to do 
to make money. Of course I didn't have any time 
for play, but I worked enough to get plenty of ex- 
ercise and graduated in four years with high honor. 
I gave notes for my tuition except for the last year. 
I was laboratory director during my senior year, 
which paid my tuition. 

From the time I was a small boy in the public 
school, too young to study Physiology, when the class 
recited I would stop studying and listen to them and 
long for the time to come when I could study med- 
icine. This dream was realized in the fall of 1904 
when I entered the University of North Carolina, 
and began the four years of hard work which was 
required to get my M.D. It was during the Christ- 
mas examinations of this year that my eyes failed, 
due partly to using a microscope too much, besides 
the hard strain of late study hours. I could not see 
how to read, but I managed to get some one to read 
for me and I passed my examinations. During my 
second year at Chapel Hill, I secured boarders, col- 
lected for board, and kept books for a regular board- 



College Men without Money 169 

Ing house to help pay my board. I also acted as 
laundry agent, managed a pressing club, and taught 
English and Latin to medical students who did not 
have sufEcient preparation in these branches to study 
medicine. 

My last years in the medical course were spent 
at the University of Maryland. The first year I 
distributed tickets and posters for the City Y. M. C. 
A. meetings during my spare hours, for which work 
I received $2.50 a week. There was so much walk- 
ing in this I would be so tired at night that I could 
not study, so I soon gave it up and devoted all my 
time to my books. I secured an appointment as 
medical assistant in the hospital (which was 
awarded to the best students in the class), for my 
senior year. Owing to the difficulty we had in se- 
curing good board near the hospital my class mates 
persuaded me to organize another boarding Club, 
which I managed for a few months; but because my 
hospital work required so much time, I had to turn 
it over to someone else. I graduated with the class 
of 1908 from the University of Maryland and passed 
the State Board examination in June of the same 
year, and located at Union Ridge, N. C, where I 
have enjoyed a very lucrative practice. I have been 
asked to write this for the benefit of other young 
men who are working their way through school. 
While it has been a hard struggle, and I have seen 
a few dark days when it seemed that I would have 
to give up for want of means to go forward; still 



ijo College Men without Money 

when the time came that I had to have money, I 
always found some way to make it or some friend 
kind enough to lend it to me. So my college career 
has been a very pleasant one. 

Union Ridge, N. C. 



THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE 
WORLD 

REV. E. A. WATKINS, A.B., A.M., D.D. 
PRESIDENT PALMER COLLEGE 

I HAVE been asked to tell the young people of 
to-day how I planned to meet college expenses 
without money with which to start. In the hope 
that some young man may be encouraged to under- 
take the task of securing a good preparation for life, 
whether he has any money or not, I am giving a 
brief outline of the struggle I had to secure what 
little training I happen to have for life's responsi- 
ble duties. 

I was born and reared on the farm. From my 
childhood, I had impressions that God wanted me 
to be a minister of the Gospel, and had always ex- 
pected to make the necessary preparation, and give 
my life to the task of this kind of special Christian 
work. I had finished the graded school of my neigh- 
borhood, and had done one year's work in high 
school, when, in the following summer, I injured my 
spine permanently by riding on a harvesting machine 
over some very rough ground. This occurred when 
I was seventeen years of age, and for nearly ten 
years I suffered intensely from this misfortune; the 

171 



172 College Men without Money 

greater part of the time unable to earn a dollar. 
During this period, I became discouraged and de- 
cided to give up the idea of ever being able to secure 
the training that would fit me for my chosen work, 
and finally decided to turn my attention to some 
other pursuit. At this time I married the woman 
who must be given the credit for the greater part 
of what little success I may have had. 

After I had spent nearly ten years casting about 
to adjust myself to my surroundings, I somewhat 
recovered from my injury and again turned my 
thoughts to the ministry. " There is a divinity that 
shapes our ends," after all; a Siamese missionary 
came to Old Charity Chapel, in Shelby County, 
Ohio, my home church, and told the story of the 
Cross. I do not remember a word he said, but I 
do know that he Inspired me with a new vision and 
a new determination to undertake the task for which 
I felt that God had endowed me; and out in the 
barn, on the old home farm, I settled the question 
and decided that God would have to lead the way. 
I had spent practically all the money that had come 
into my hands, seeking to recover from the harvester 
accident. That summer I earned a little money and 
on the first of September I had just $33 saved up, 
with which to start to college. I lived 125 miles 
from Merom, Ind., but I had decided the matter, 
and the limited amount of money could play no im- 
portant part In my purposes. I had entered a little 
partnership with God, as the senior member of the 



College Men ^without Money 173 

firm, and I was only to furnish the effort, consecra- 
tion, application, toil and faith, and He was to fur- 
nish the balance. How well He played His part, 
subsequent events have told. On the fourth of Sep- 
tember, 1898, with this small sum of money, $33, 
in my pocket, my wife and I went to Merom, Ind., 
where I entered Union Christian College. Tuition 
must be paid, room rent must be provided for, and 
we must both be provided with board. Dr. L. J. 
Aldrich, the president of the college, assisted us in 
finding suitable quarters, and also assisted us in find- 
ing some suitable employment for the wife. She 
secured employment at the Harper House, where 
several of the students boarded, I boarding at the 
College Club, which was much cheaper. She earned 
enough to pay her own board and mine. Thus we 
were able to live very comfortably for a while. But 
after a little, several of the boarders left the Harper 
House, and she lost her place. Nothing opened for 
us then, and it seemed for a time that we would have 
to return home. These were dark days and our 
faith was tried. At last I went to President Aldrich 
and laid the matter before him. After going into 
the details of the situation, he thrust his hand in his 
pocket and gave me a $20 bill. I never saw $20 
look as big as it did that night. He told me to take 
it and make it go as far as possible, and pay it back 
when I was able. Arrangements were made by 
which we could pay tuition and room rent the next 
summer and the good wife secured a place where we 



174 College Men without Money 

roomed, earning her board by assisting the family 
with household duties. I earned a little supplying 
for some of the ministers then at Merom and by 
holding a revival during the vacation. But this was 
not sufficient to pay necessary expenses. I borrowed 
$20 of my brother, and then, to make ends meet, I 
reduced the number of meals at the club and ate 
only breakfast and dinner, in order to reduce the 
cost of board to $1.10 per week. During the re- 
mainder of the year, I did not eat supper, and be- 
cause I was denied this luxury, the wife also refused 
to eat supper, and thus we passed away the evening 
hours, just over the kitchen, where the tempting 
flavors from the supper table below came up through 
our room, to add to our hunger. 

The following summer I canvassed for a maga- 
zine in Piqua, Ohio, and sold nearly 500 subscrip- 
tions, and earned enough to pay all the debts I had 
contracted during my year at Union Christian Col- 
lege. 

During this summer vacation I was called to 
preach at Houston, Ohio, where my father had 
preached forty years before. This was within 100 
miles of Antioch College, and in the fall we went 
to Antioch, Yellow Springs, took up our abode in 
two of the old south dormitory rooms, and I entered 
the Academy for a course of study. Our income 
was small and a large part of that must be spent for 
car-fare. Again the good wife proved a helpmeet 
indeed, by very materially assisting in taking care 



College Men without Money 175 

of the expenses. However, we had to live without 
meat and other luxuries. I continued at Antioch 
three years, at which time I went to Muncie, Ind., 
and entered the New Palmer University, and re- 
mained there until Mr. Palmer's death, two years 
later, which made necessary the closing of the school. 
During this time I went out and preached on Sunday 
and returned to my work on Monday. We then 
went to Defiance, Ohio, and entered Defiance Col- 
lege and continued there two years and graduated 
in the class of '07, after which we went to Cincinnati 
University, where I entered the Graduate School 
and in the spring of 1908 received the Master of 
Arts degree, receiving the honor of being one out 
of four who carried an average grade of " A " in 
five courses out of six. 

During my course of study in these institutions I 
received In gifts from friends not more than $25. 
I suppose that during this period we spent not less 
than $300 for doctor bills. But through it all God 
has opened the way. There were times when it 
seemed that we would have to give up the quest, 
times when we did not know whether we could make 
ends meet longer or not. It was not smooth sailing 
nor was it an open sea. But it has been worth while. 
As I see it now, it developed those elements of char- 
acter that serve one best when obstacles mountain- 
high appear before him. Those years are the best 
investment of my hfe. If I had it to do over again, 
I would be willing to sail the same choppy sea, rather 



176 College Men without Money 

than face life without that little I succeeded in 
gathering up during those years of struggle. Hum- 
bly submitted for the good of " somebody's boy." 

Albany, Mo, 



OPPORTUNITIES MAKE US KNOWN 

PROFESSOR WM. F. H. WENTZEL, B.S., M.S. 

I WAS born In a humble home in the backwoods 
of Berks County, Pennsylvania. I had few 
companions outside of school hours In the little 
country school where we studied In Enghsh and 
played In German. I had no one of Intimate ac- 
quaintance who had any appreciation of higher edu- 
cation or of professional life. The awakening of 
a moderate ambition was largely due to the Influence 
of a devoted mother and an inspiring teacher. 

With three months' cramming In a summer nor- 
mal, I changed from a student to a teacher In the 
little red school house. During the long vacations 
that followed I attended Perkiomen Seminary, where 
I was graduated In 1902. When I passed my 
twenty-fifth birthday I had given eight years of 
service to our schools at a salary of $238 per year. 
I had paid for my preparatory education and had 
saved $200. At this time I also had signed an anti- 
saloon petition which efficiently barred me from 
further employment In the same school. This pre- 
dicament put me to thinking what would be the next 
best step. My prep, school was an excellent eye- 
opener for college possibilities for poor boys, yet 

177 



178 College Men without Money 

I never before realized what it could mean to me. 
However, in one month after my downfall I was 
making my exodus to the Pennsylvania State Col- 
lege. I was without a friend that could give me 
advice or direct me to means by which a young man 
might work his way. My $200 was dwindling to a 
small margin as I got my equipment of books, uni- 
form, instruments, fees, board, room, etc. I soon 
hailed an opportunity to husk corn on Saturdays. 

Time progressed slowly, work became scarce, 
football enthusiasm rose to a high pitch. Most of 
the boys were planning a trip to see our team face 
its foremost rival of the season. It seemed evident 
that a three to five dollar outlay on such a trip 
could not include me. There were more meetings, 
music, yells, and speeches; and the fellow who re- 
fused to go either had poor spirit or he felt real 
mean. I was one of those who felt mean. So did 
my room-mate. We raised a question and forth 
came the solution. I suggested that we go at the 
lowest possible outlay. On the morning of the 
game when the band led the march to the depot we 
were In line. The enthusiasm and the victory 
seemed to be fully worth the price. When the noon 
hour arrived and the boys resorted to the hotels, 
chum and I sauntered down along the railroad, se- 
cured a box of crackers, and with some dried beef 
that I had brought from home, we made the noon- 
day meal. On our return to college we proceeded 
to work out the balance of the program : that was to 



College Men without Money 179 

board ourselves until we had saved the amount. 
With a tin tomato can hung above our student lamp 
as a cooking outfit we proceeded with our experi- 
ment in domestic science from Thanksgiving to 
Christmas. We were so elated with the success and 
the economy that we returned with well packed 
trunks after Christmas and continued the experiment 
until Commencement week, when we both secured 
positions as waiters. This scheme made a nice sav- 
ing, as it cost us less than $1.25 per week each for 
our board. I waited on tables for my board for 
the remaining three years of my college course. 

The first year closed with my financial rating $200 
less than it was at the opening of the school year. 
It was the close of my hardest year. With my 
fragmentary preparation and several entrance con- 
ditions I found it necessary to work to the limit of 
my ability, mentally and physically. 

I adapted my summer vacation to my needs and 
divided my time between farm work and canvassing 
for the " Wearever " Aluminum Cooking Utensil 
Company. I saved enough to equip myself with 
clothing, books, etc., to start my next school year. 

I started the work without definite plans for the 
finances of the year. I gave some assistance to a 
student agent selling drawing instruments. This 
line of work put me in touch with the commercial 
possibilities for a student to earn his way. I noted 
the pennant agent, the pin agent, the clothing agent, 
the laundry agent, etc. Yet was I too sensitive of 



i8o College Men without Money 

my backwoods instincts to move myself from the out- 
side of this field to a top notch competitor with upper 
class agents. Various college activities seemed to 
prevail upon my time and I could not curb that inner 
desire to be active along these lines when the finance 
seemed to be within my control. However, in my 
junior year I accepted partnership in the drawing 
instrument business which netted me a considerable 
Income for the opening week of the school year. In 
my senior year I made my only real commercial 
venture. I gave security for my stock and took 
$ 1,000 worth of instruments on the field. I secured 
a store room where I had a good window display, 
took in second-hand uniforms, which I sold on com- 
mission, and, too, late in my college career, I learned 
the commercial possibilities open to the student who 
will do things in a business way. I gave students 
from 20 per cent, to 40 per cent, discount on instru- 
ments and yet cleared enough in two weeks to aid 
me greatly In my senior year. 

Amongst other means of support I shall mention 
a few of a general type. I was chapel monitor for 
over two years which was worth one dollar per week. 
For two years I was marshal in my lodging house, 
which reduced my room rent. I worked in the 
library and took advantage of many minor oppor- 
tunities. My summer vacations were spent simi- 
larly to the first one. Throughout the course I 
always was within a margin of the means at my 
command. 



College Men without Money i8l 

You will note that my financial career at college 
was rather promiscuous, without plan or system. I 
therefore hope to make this sketch doubly helpful 
by adding a discussion on *' advice " and another on 
" college activities." 

A little experience in earning, saving, and learn- 
ing the value of a dollar before entering college 
never comes amiss. However, the fellow who puts 
off college entrance because he enjoys fair earnings, 
or because he wishes to accumulate a comfortable 
sum, usually never gets there. Don't expect too 
much in earning ability during your first term at col- 
lege. It is far more important to make a good start 
intellectually, as that is the paramount business in 
college attendance. It is one of the sad things to 
see a young man give up in discouragement because 
he failed to place emphasis on application to study. 
(Therefore, when entering college, plan to give the 
first few months to the college business without di- 
rect interference by any other obligations or diver- 
sions. 

Plans for the first year's finance might include an 
attempt to locate friends at college who might aid 
in finding a waitership or some other work that does 
not break directly. Such work at the start should 
not be discouraging, as those places naturally belong 
to older students who have worked up to the situa- 
tion. It is well to recognize that others have rights 
and needs similar to your own. Again to start, as 
one who is given a preference by pull, is not the most 



182 College Men without Money 

agreeable situation. Another first year plan is the 
securing of agency privileges from some good firm, 
let's say for college jewelry. Several weeks before 
Christmas vacation, when your work is well in hand 
and your acquaintance with classmates established, 
first canvass your classmates, then other students, 
for the holiday orders. During one week it is pos- 
sible to do your studying while others play and your 
canvassing while others study. In a large college 
such a canvass may net $100 profit. As business 
acquaintance and reputation grows, other lines can 
be added and much trade comes with limited effort. 

I look upon the tutoring opportunity as one of 
the errors of my college efforts. I mean by this, my 
neglect to give it any attention. My advice to a 
young man is : work up your class standing from the 
beginning, especially in subjects where others are 
wont to fall. It may take excess time at first, but 
it makes easy sailing later, and the more you earn 
the stronger you become as a student; a fact which 
is usually to the contrary in other financial means at 
a student's command. It is also rather lucrative as 
students make it net from 50 cents to $5 and $10 
or more per hour. 

Vacation specialties are a boon to many a student 
canvasser. It is not undesirable for any student to 
try his hand in dealing with people of various types. 
However, it Is remarkable how many students fail 
in successful canvassing. The nervous strain on the 
fellow that fails, while he feels the waste of much 



College Men without Money 183 

needed time and money, is great and has a tendency 
to crush out even the little ambition that remains. 
Vacation work should be rest from mental strain, 
It should be open air work, and it should be in a 
measure manual. It Is hoped that the reader will 
note that money is not the only nor even the first 
consideration In a wisely planned effort to work his 
way through college. 

" College Activities " may seem an oddity in this 
discussion. I pity the student who thinks because 
he is poor he should get all and give nothing. I had 
a college debt of $400 when I finished, but the 
energy put Into non-required college activities would 
have canceled the debt several times. 

For four years I served on the Intercollegiate 
Debating Team, during which time my Alma Mater 
rose from last place to first in the League. For two 
years I was a member of my class debating team. 
In my junior year I served as editor-in-chief of the 
college annual published by the class. At the close 
of that same year I took first place in the Junior 
Oratorical Contest. In religious work I had charge 
of Bible groups for three years, was treasurer of 
the Y. M. C. A. in my junior year and president in 
my senior year. At the close of my course I was 
elected a member of " Phi Kappa Phi," and was 
chosen valedictorian of my class. 

Catch my creed. There Is no harm in a little col- 
lege debt. Be willing to give as well as desirous 
to receive. If you are In want make an honest ef- 



184 College Men without Money 

fort to find the means necessary, but thereafter place 
your college above the dollar and the good time. 
There is nothing seriously wrong with the fellow 
who accumulates a thousand above expenses during 
a college course, but if he fails to give a reasonable 
portion of his energy to the higher purposes of his 
Alma Mater, the fruit of his work is chaff rather 
than grain. 

California, Penn, 



MAKING PLAY OUT OF WORK 

A. L. M. WIGGINS, A.B. 

THE same problem confronted me that con- 
fronts the great majority of college boys 
when they decide to go to college — the financial 
one. Three financial plans were open. I could 
borrow the money necessary for a college course and 
pay it back after completing the course, or I could 
work two or three years and save the necessary 
amount before going. The only other course open 
was to earn my expenses as I went. Any one of 
these plans would have incurred a hardship, so I 
selected a part of all three of them. I am convinced 
that this was the very best course. 

The day I decided to go to college, twelve months 
before I entered, I was financially about even with 
the world. By good luck and close saving during 
this following year my savings amounted to five 
hundred dollars, which represented my total capital 
when I entered the University of North Carolina. 
As a freshman, I had very few opportunities to 
make money, and by the end of the year my capital 
was reduced to one hundred and fifty dollars. A 
position- the following summer on a weekly news- 
paper netted expenses and experience, and I there- 

185 



1 86 College Men without Money 

fore started back the next year with only the hun- 
dred and fifty. 

Expenses were provided for this year by means 
of work with the University Press and the manage- 
ment of a boarding house. Newspaper reporting 
furnished a few dollars and some good experience, 
and a campaign for subscriptions to a popular maga- 
zine was also productive. About this time I found 
it necessary to use my original hundred and fifty for 
an object not connected with college, and so it was 
paid out. But the end of the session found me prac- 
tically even financially and with all debts paid. 

At the beginning of my junior year, I had less 
than one dollar capital. The management of the 
Press was given me at this time at a salary of sixty- 
five dollars a month, and I continued to manage a 
boarding house. A number of side schemes, includ- 
ing the management of telegraphic athletic reports, 
selling advertising novelties, newspaper reporting, 
an interest in a fruit store, etc., brought in irregular 
but substantial returns. During this year I man- 
aged to meet all expenses and save about three hun- 
dred dollars. This amount added to a lot of nerve 
with which I borrowed twelve hundred more, gave 
me capital for an investment, which later netted a 
profit of two hundred and fifty dollars. 

During the following summer, I spent the three 
hundred in traveling and entered my senior year 
without a cent but the two hundred and fifty, which 
was tied up in such a way that I couldn't get it for 



College Men without Money 187 

some time. I leased the print shop this year and 
did other work such as selling shoes, advertise- 
ments, visiting cards, etc. The larger part of my 
time this year being taken up with some of the more 
strenuous " college activities," my Income was cut 
down and It was necessary for, me to borrow less 
than a hundred dollars from the University. At 
graduation, I could have paid off all debts, and had 
left two hundred dollars or more. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 

Total amount spent during four years 

with amount of scholarship Included 

(time includes three vacations) . . . $2,700 

Cash on hand at beginning $500 

Value of Scholarship. 240 740 



Total $740 

Balance . $1,960 

Investment (later realized) ........ 250 



Total earned during college course. $2,210 

From this statement it is clear that I spent much 
more money than was necessary. Five hundred dol- 
lars could have been saved out of this amount if I 
had cut out a few of the luxuries, but as the money 
was earned, I felt free to spend it. 

My conclusions and advice are that any boy can 
go through college if he is prepared to enter and Is 



i88 College Men without Money 

willing to work. The working college boy is the 
happiest because he is always busy and doesn't have 
time to get blue. He can enjoy his pleasures with- 
out thinking that he will some day have to pay the 
money back. His activities are so diversified that 
they do not become monotonous, and making money 
becomes to him as much sport as playing baseball. 
He can go broke for three weeks and sell a few 
books to raise money for a midnight lunch and have 
more fun out of it than another boy with a barrel of 
money and a new automobile. All it takes for a boy 
to go through college without money is nerve to try 
it, grit to stick to it, and a happy attitude toward 
life to enjoy it. 

Hartsville, S. C. 



NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS 

MISS AGNES R. WRIGHT, B.A. 

THE University of Wyoming situated at La- 
ramie, Wyoming, on the broad plains which 
roll away to the hills and blue mountains capped 
with snowy peaks, is surrounded by an air of free- 
ness and democracy characteristic of this great equal- 
suffrage State. 

After finishing the preparatory course of the Uni- 
versity, I was determined to complete the fours years 
of college; and, thus in the fall of 1909, I found 
myself a freshman in the College of Liberal Arts of 
the University of Wyoming. 

My home was on a ranch some twenty-five miles 
out of Laramie. I therefore accepted gratefully 
the opportunity of staying with my aunts in town in 
order that I might go to school. 

Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, Professor of Po- 
litical Economy and Librarian at the University, 
made me her assistant in the library. Through the 
fours years of my college course Dr. Hebard, who 
is a noble woman, was my guide, philosopher, and 
friend, helping me in every way possible. I re- 
mained assistant librarian through my entire course 
with a raise in salary each year. Since my salary 

189 



190 College Men without Money 

from this source was not sufficient to meet all my 
expenses, and believing thoroughly in grasping every 
opportunity, Dr. Hebard urged me to try for some 
of the literary prizes in the University. 

The first one I tried for was an essay on the 
" Overland Trail In Wyoming." I worked on this 
essay during one of my summer vacations and In the 
fall received the prize of $50. Other prizes which 
I was successful enough to win were: " A Place in 
Wyoming Worthy of a Monument," $10; " Oppor- 
tunities Wyommg Offers to Technically Trained 
Men and Women," $25, two times, (different years) 
making $50; "Principles of Free Government," 
(two times) making $50; a short story contest at 
the State Fair, second prize, $50. 

This essay work not only gave me experience in 
writing and some valuable information, but also 
meant a great deal in a financial way. 

It was necessary In connection with the library 
work that I take typewriting. With the practice 
gained In the library, together with the work in 
class, I was able to typewrite fairly well at the end 
of the first year. Many times I made a little ex- 
tra money doing typewriting. On one occasion I 
made $2.50 for four hours of such work. Type- 
writing has been one of the most useful subjects 
which I took in college. 

In the last half of my freshman year my sister 
and I economized by keeping house in two rooms 
rented in a private home. The next three years 



College Men without Money 191 

we were able to live at the girls' dormitory. My 
sister, too, is earning her way through college, and 
we will never regret doing so. 

In my sophomore year I decided to take up draft- 
ing, and was allowed to elect sixteen hours in the 
College of Engineering. In the spring of both my 
junior and senior years I was offered the position 
as temporary draftsman at $100 a month by the 
United States Surveyor General in Cheyenne, but I 
refused, as I wished to graduate. This merely il- 
lustrates how college people may receive good po- 
sitions. 

In my junior year I was elected editor-in-chief of 
the college paper, for which I received $10 a month 
and credits in English. During my senior year I 
was also editor and received $15 a month, the paper 
having been changed to a weekly. 

One might think that, with being editor of the 
paper and assistant librarian, the remainder of my 
time would have to be devoted entirely to my studies ; 
but far from It. The fact that I was devoting a 
portion of my time to earning my way gave me the 
best of training. I had my work down to a sys- 
tem, and when I stydied, knowing just how much 
time I had, I learned to concentrate to such an ex- 
tent that it was no trouble to study in a room when 
four or five people were carrying on a conversation. 
I did not take the minimum amount of work either, 
for at the beginning of my senior year I had just 
twenty-two credits to make and upon graduation had 
eleven credits too many. 



192 College Men without Money 

I engaged In athletics heartily. I played on the 
basketball team, being captain one year and mana- 
ger the next. For four years I was a member of 
the Young Women's Christian Association Cabinet, 
the Mandolin and Glee Clubs, and took part in dra- 
matics and other social activities. Besides, 1 de- 
voted some of my time to Pi Beta Phi, of which I 
am a member. 

I did not take library work with the Intention of 
making it my vocation, but merely as a means of go- 
ing through college, but there was an opening in the 
State Library and on July i, 19 13, I accepted the po- 
sition of Assistant State Librarian in the State Law 
Library at Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

On June 12, 19 13, I received the degree of B.A. 
I was nineteen years old, but I came out of college 
with developed ideas of how to go about making 
my own living In a manner which I could have gained 
in no other way. 

To work my way had not injured my health, as 
I always took plenty of outdoor exercise, walking, 
skating, etc., and each summer was spent at home 
on the ranch, fishing, riding and camping in the 
mountains, besides working at home. 

With parents and relatives making sacrifices and 
determined to give my sister and me the opportunity 
to gain a higher education, and with the encourage- 
ment of friends, I have attained, and my sister will 
attain next June, a college education. 

It is worth the effort a thousand times. The spirit 



College Men without Money 193 

of the University of Wyoming is greatly in favor 
of students helping themselves. The leaders in so- 
cial life, athletics, and in every phase of the life of 
the University are wide-awake young men and 
women who are willing to help themselves. 

The men or women with a good education are 
being sought after in the business world to-day. To 
know that you have gained this education by your- 
self, makes you independent and places you on the 
road to success. 

(Since writing the above Miss Wright stood a 
civil service examination for clerk-draftsman and 
passed fourth highest in the United States. — Com- 
piler.) 

Cheyenne, JVyo. 



WORK A STIMULUS TO AMBITION 

I ENTERED the engineering department of the 
University of Texas as a freshman in the fall 
of 1892 at the age of seventeen. I graduated with 
the degree of C.E. in the summer of 1900, eight 
years later, having spent four years of that interval 
as a student at the University. With the exception 
of about $130, I bore all the expenses of my univer- 
sity education. 

During my first year I lived with a relative and 
did chores about the house in return for my board 
and lodging. My total expenditure in money dur- 
ing this year, including two months' preparation for 
entrance examinations, was about $130. The most 
rigid economy was necessary, of course, to keep ex- 
penses down to this amount. 

After the first year I was out of school four years, 
the chief reason therefor being lack of funds. 
These years (i 893-1 897), as will be recalled, cov- 
ered a period of financial depression, especially 1893 
and 1894. Being untrained in any trade or profes- 
sion, I was obliged to be satisfied with whatever 
wages I could earn, and at times I was glad enough 
to make a living. A long spell of typhoid fever 

194 



College Men without Money 195 

kept me from work for six months, and my finances 
suffered a corresponding setback. 

I matriculated at the University again in the fall 
of 1897. During the session of '97-98 I earned 
both my board and lodging by doing light chores and 
tending rooms occupied by boarders. My four 
years' savings, aggregating $200, were sufficient to 
cover other expenses, close economy being practiced. 
[The first part of this year was the most discourag- 
ing period of my university life. My outside duties 
were distasteful, not through discouragement, but 
by reason of continued contact with people who 
greatly underestimated their value. I had become 
unaccustomed to study, and I had reached the years 
when I felt that I should be earning an income some- 
what different from higher education. But a te- 
nacious nature prevailed, and after a few months it 
became clearer that I was on the right track. 

During the vacation following my sophomore year 
I tried very hard to earn something toward the ex- 
penses of another year, but it was a dull season and 
work of any kind was difficult to find. Late in the 
summer I got a job, and in the three remaining weeks 
of vacation I earned a little more than enough to 
pay my fare to Austin. 

I landed in Austin with $3.20, and without any 
plan whatever for meeting the expenses of further 
work in the University. But with confidence re- 
sulting from the optimism of youth, combined with 
the experience of previous years, I fully intended to 



196 College Men ivithout Money 

continue my university studies, and this I did. I 
visited the home where I had lived the year before, 
and the lady of the house kindly offered to let me 
work out my board until I could make permanent 
arrangements. I immediately wrote to a relative 
asking the loan of $50 with interest. Although I 
was unable to offer security for the loan, a check 
came promptly, and I was in a position to matricu- 
late and purchase the necessary books. I then 
joined a student club and remained a member dur- 
ing the year, the cost of living in a club being less 
than in a regular boarding house. During the year 
a small business in handling student supplies netted 
a profit of perhaps fifty dollars. The club paid me 
a small price for chopping the stove wood, and this 
brought in a few dollars, although the work w^as 
done principally for exercise. 

Early in April of that year I left the University to 
accept a position on a survey party at $35 a month 
and expenses. I owed at that time bills aggregating 
about $40, but these were paid by savings from my 
wages before the end of the session. 

At the beginning of the succeeding fall term I 
gave up my work with the survey party and returned 
to the University to complete my course of civil 
engineering. Permission was granted by the heads 
of the various schools to take up senior with the un- 
derstanding that junior work omitted in the spring 
be made up during the year. The savings remain- 
ing from my summer's wages amounted to a little 



College Men without Money 197 

more than $100. I lived at low rate boarding 
houses this year, except two months when I worked 
for my board. My business in student supplies, this 
year on a larger scale, netted about $100. I also 
earned a smaJl sum during the year by working a few 
hours each week in the office of an engineer in the 
city, the hours of work being arranged so as not to 
conflict with my lecture hours at the University. At 
the close of the session I had a few dollars left over. 
I graduated with the degree of Civil Engineer, 
Being fortunate enough to obtain at once a paying 
position, I was able within two months to pay back 
with interest the fifty dollars borrowed two years 
before. I could then follow my chosen line of work 
free of debt. In regard to the benefit derived from 
my connection with the University, it is always diffi- 
cult to picture " what might have been " ; and also 
one is apt not to realize all the advantages that have 
come to him as the result of higher education. In 
my own case I know that my university training was 
well worth the time, labor, and sacrifice that it cost; 
for it equipped me for entrance into a remunerative 
vocation, and through the knowledge and training 
acquired in the four years' course I was able suc- 
cessfully to complete a civil service examination for 
an appointment in the technical branch of the Fed- 
eral service immediately upon graduation. Ad- 
vancement and corresponding growth of income have 
followed, accompanied by the advantages of exten- 
sive travel. Furthermore, in my own case, which 



198 College Men without Money 

doubtless is typical, the years devoted to higher 
studies stimulated ambition and developed a self- 
confidence ; otherwise, these qualities probably would 
have been wanting to prompt and sustain an effort 
to make the best use of my natural powers. Not 
the least benefit derived from a few years spent as 
a student at the University is the social pleasure and 
practical assistance afforded by the mutual interest 
of ex-students, many of whom are now filling prom- 
inent and responsible positions. 

During the last two years of my university work 
when tempted to quit, or when " practical " persons 
suggested that I was prolonging my school days late 
into life, or that I " knew enough already," I 
strengthened my purpose and met those arguments 
by the answer that while out of the University I 
made little more than a poor living, whereas in it 
I not only made a better living, but was acquiring 
valuable education as well. During my struggles 
with financial problems when at the University, I 
always received from my officers and faculty of the 
University practical assistance, and this without 
doubt will be the experience of any other student 
similarly situated. 

That no young man or young woman of recep- 
tive mind, who possesses the requisite physical and 
mental strength and has the necessary ambition and 
determination, need be deprived of the advantages 
of a university education by reason of financial limi- 
tations, has been repeatedly demonstrated in the 



College Men without Money 199 

past. I fully believe that the result in every case 
is worth the effort; but the unavoidable outside 
duties and the cramped finances narrow the horizon 
of self-supporting students. I would, tlierefore, of- 
fer to students the suggestion that they guard as 
much as possible against narrowness in the acquisi- 
tion of their education and In their university life, 
and that they endeavor to correct in their subsequent 
life after graduation any such resulting defect. — 
The University of Texas Bulletin. 



THE UNIVERSITY AS A GOAL 

" BY A COUNTRY GIRL " 

I AM writing this piece of personal history, not 
because it contains any great amount of inter- 
est for people in general, but because it may be an 
inspiration for some young woman who may chance 
to read it — and she may be induced to step out 
and try a similar plan for herself. Therefore, pro- 
saic though it be, it will be, nevertheless, a true story 
from first to last. 

I was born and grew up like many another healthy 
youngster, with no marked precocity. Because 
there were no good schools near by, the children of 
the family were taken to a village in the county, 
and placed in what was then the best private school 
in that part of the State. I was then eight years of 
age, and this trip of sixteen miles in wagons across 
the snow one January day was my first glimpse of 
the outside world. I recall vividly now the impres- 
sions that came to me that first night and during the 
first days. There were in the family two older sis- 
ters and a brother, and four or five cousins and half- 
uncles. I had heard them discuss the wonders of 
this new world before we made the move. We had 



College Men without Money 20i 

a play-house In the barn. It was in this barn that 
the marvelous stories were told, and plans were 
made for what we meant to do and to be when once 
we were there. I remember that I would dig my 
toes in the ground, standing ready to swing, but 
listening open-eyed, and then let myself go high in 
the air, dreaming of the great future. So, the vil- 
lage, quaint and quiet, except for the school, was 
to my youthful Imagination a part of Paradise. 

We lived in this village and attended this school 
for three years. My mother died the first year, and 
a married sister came to take charge of the house- 
hold, which was cooperative In its nature, every mem- 
ber of the family having his share of the daily tasks. 
The school was a good one, not only for its time, 
but judged even now by modern standards. It knew 
little of the principles of pedagogy, and had meager 
equipment in library and laboratory, but for a pe- 
riod of a quarter of a century, under the influence 
of its one principal. It had the power to transform 
the lives of hundreds of crude country boys and 
girls. What was taught was well taught, and the 
men and women who went from the school are known 
to-day in places of great responsibility. But the 
facts learned were a small part of that school's work. 
Somehow, under the Inspiration of that principal and 
the assistants whom he had the wisdom to employ, 
the school had a spirit akin to that of Rugby. 

And so my story Is more than half told. When 
once the mind is awake and the soul is stirred, there 



202i College Men without Money 

is something within that bids us neither stand nor 
sit, but go ! 

After this I had two years in school nearer my 
home. When I was fifteen I was offered a position 
as assistant in a school and in my ignorance as to 
its responsibilities I accepted. I liked the experi- 
ence, and decided that I had found my calling. The 
way opened for me to attend a normal, and in one 
year I was graduated — full fledged, with a perma- 
nent certificate. (I count this year as one of the 
best of my life, because of the influence of one 
teacher there, and for this I can pardon the ab- 
surdity of permanent certificate.) 

The five years following this graduation I taught 
In the public schools — five busy and happy, but 
hungry and unsatisfied years. During these years 
I had the joy of waking up other boys and girls, and 
during these years at night I had my first oppor- 
tunity to read good books. 

And then the way opened for me to go to the Uni- 
versity. I had saved what I thought was enough 
money to put me through, and though some people 
thought I " knew enough," I dared to lay down my 
work and go. I have never regretted It for one 
day, in spite of the sacrifice, hardship and anxiety 
when funds began to fail, I had the foolish idea 
that I must get my degree before I stopped. And 
I did. Now, I should say, go as long as you can 
with health and comfort — physical and mental — 
and then. If you can not make your way, teach and 



College Men without Money 203 

go again. You will be the better for the discipline, 
perhaps, and the university the richer for your ma- 
turity. 

But, a teacher may ask, why set the university as 
my goal? "If I have a good position, and have 
managed by great privation to go through a normal 
school, am I not entitled to rest a while and let well 
enough alone? " Let me answer that no university 
claims to be the final goal. Take your respite, teach 
with all your might with the best light that you 
have. But go up for some summer session. You 
will catch the spirit; you will soon see that you need 
the university, and If you have in you the right fire, 
your university needs you. [Then if you are too 
timid to give up your position, ask your board for a 
leave of absence and go back as you can and take 
your degree. 

But my heart turns to the girl away back In the 
country, to the girl who has felt her soul stir within 
her, but has curbed every hope because she thinks 
herself shut within walls that cannot be broken down. 
Don't believe it. Keep the fire ahve. Let the 
university know who you are and what you want, 
and If you cry loud enough and long enough — and 
mean It, some one will come to your rescue. Take 
my word for it. — The University of Texas Bulle- 
tin. 



PART II 

WORKING TO MAKE HIMSELF A MORE 
USEFUL MAN 

F. M. BASSFORD 

I AM making my own way through college be- 
cause there was no one at home able to send 
me aid or to pay my expenses. 

I am making my own way because I wanted to be 
a college man; to graduate from college; to become 
more intelligent educationally along general lines; 
to be able to take my place in public, whether on 
the platform, before an audience, or in polite so- 
ciety at social functions, with ease and grace instead 
of embarrassment. I was told a college man could 
succeed better than a man without a trained mind. 
I found the educated men advancing beyond me in 
position and salary, even though younger, at the 
office where I worked. I always looked up to col- 
lege men and women, as to my elders, with a certain 
respect and admiration for their superiority — de- 
rived as I believed from their college course. I had 
a desire every time a public speaker referred, in 
my hearing, to ancient history or to some event, 
poem, or historic personage, to delve Into those mys- 

20S 



2o6 College Men without Money 

terious realms of learning so that I might appreciate 
more fully the point he was trying to make clear, by 
an understanding of the circumstances connected 
with the reference which would enable me to make 
the application to the speaker's topic. 

I am working my way through college because I 
had read before coming, and I have discovered for 
myself since coming, that many students succeed in 
siecuring a thorough college course by their own ef- 
forts and God's blessing. 

I am working my way through college because 
I have nothing to lose and much to gain thereby. 

I am devoting part of my time — usually half of 
each day — during the school days, and all day Sat- 
urdays, of the two semesters comprising the school 
year, to the clerical work and such other duties as 
I may be called upon to perform under the direction 
of the president and the registrar in the administra- 
tion department of the College located at Adrian. 

Ehiring the summer vacations, holidays, and such 
other spare time as is at my disposal, I canvass with 
such articles as hosiery, underwear, neckwear, 
sweaters, and books, both among the members of 
the student body and the citizens of the municipality 
in which our school is located. 

I get on by keeping everlastingly at it, steadily, 
day by day and year by year, and by a careful ex- 
penditure of the money earned, for necessities and 
such worthy causes as I choose to support, avoiding 
most of the luxurious and expensive pastimes for 



College Men without Money 207 

the three-fold purpose of conserving time, money 
and energy. 

I am encouraged along the way by the assistance, 
the kindness, the moral and financial support of a 
host of much appreciated friends and customers, 
and by the manifold blessings of God, such as health, 
strength, a normally perfect body, which in His 
mercy He has seen fit to bestow upon me, a poor, 
ignorant, ambitious boy, an humble and unworthy 
follower of the Great Teacher. 

Adrian College, Adrian, Mich. 



MANY LANES GF USEFULNESS 

BEBE BOSWELL 

MY early education consisted of the three R's 
learned at home with my father as teacher, 
and a half-dozen two-month terms in the public 
school. There being no high school nearer than 
twenty-five miles, father kept me on the farm about 
three years after this and then sent me to a pre- 
paratory school for two years. These two years 
fixed my moral and religious ideas and gave me a 
great faith in the possibilities and rewards of hu- 
man effort. After this he sent me to a private 
school in the West for one year, and the following 
summer to the North Texas State Normal. Dur- 
ing this year, especially, my desire to be self-sustain- 
ing had grown to be very strong, and it led me to ob- 
tain a six-year first grade certificate to teach in that 
State. 

Scarcely had my certificate been issued when a 
call came to return and take charge of a private rural 
school. The call was accepted, and school opened 
immediately upon my return. During this year I 
made up my mind to attend Peabody College and 
secure a life certificate good in a number of Southern 
States instead of returning to Texas for a perma- 

208 



College Men without Money 209 

nent certificate. All I needed to carry out this plan 
was the money. Father had helped me until I was 
able to help myself. I was not willing longer to 
spend his money. There was only one thing left 
me to do, and that was to enter the world's work- 
shop. 

The next two years found me very busy, on the 
farm. In the log woods, and teaching rural schools. 
These two years rewarded me with enough money 
to pay my expenses during the two-year normal 
course I had planned. My application for entrance 
showed I had almost enough credit for college, and 
my plan was Immediately changed from a two-year 
to a four-year course. 

Having only two years provided for, I felt the 
need of doing outside work, but with a little entrance 
requirement to make up I found only enough spare 
time to work in a grocery store on Saturdays to 
pay my room rent. When the next year came the 
duties of business manager of the student monthly 
magazine, which left me no time to earn anything. 
Success In this enterprise, however, opened up 
greater opportunities the following year. The fac- 
ulty committee made me joint manager of the col- 
lege book-store. This work paid me enough for 
board' and room. To provide for my other ex- 
penses I joined a crew of college men who were go- 
ing to Virginia to sell books for a local publishing 
house. Besides furnishing the necessary means this 
work gave me a most valuable experience, and an 



210 College Men without Money 

opportunity to travel about twenty-six hundred miles, 
visit a large number of cities and see ten States. 

Every expense of my junior year was now pro- 
vided for, but this did not satisfy me. My eyes had 
been opened to see another opportunity. During 
this year in addition to my work in the classroom, 
in the book-store, and in the literary society, I found 
time to edit both the student monthly magazine and 
the college annual. Besides this I would use spare 
moments in taking orders for class pins, graduation 
Invitations, and in soliciting business for a clothing 
house and a local jewelry establishment. I also 
joined my room-mate in organizing and conducting 
the annual Thanksgiving party to Mammoth Cave. 
These various sources yielded me half enough for my 
expenses the next year, my senior year. 

But before my junior year had closed came the 
radical announcement that Peabody College would 
be discontinued for reorganization and rebuilding. 
This left me at sea, with insufficient means for a 
whole year and the disadvantage of selecting a new 
college. I decided to finish in one of the larger uni- 
versities at a greater expense. This was met by an- 
other contract with the same publishing house. 
This contract was for six months and netted me 
above all expenses over one thousand dollars. 
Then I entered the University of Chicago, where I 
could pursue my work during the winter and con- 
tinue with the publishing company during the vaca- 
tion, helping not only myself, but many other am- 



College Men without Money 21 1 

bitious young men secure the means for an education, 
and a practical experience that will serve them to 
advantage all their lives. 

Wildersville, Tenn, 



ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE WILLING 
HEART 

GLENN DAFT 

WHY am I making my way through college? 
Like all normal young men I am possessed 
with an ambitious, enterprising spirit, which con- 
tinually urges me to do things and be somebody. I 
am led by a natural inherent desire to press forward. 
I feel that, sometime in the future, when the 
greater part of my life Is behind me, I shall look 
back over the years that are gone, and shall meas- 
ure what I am with what I might have been. At 
that time, whenever it may be, I feel that, if I am 
not able to say that I have not lived in vain, life 
will seem empty and meaningless to me. I want to 
be, in every respect, a success in life. In short, I 
am ambitious. 

Ambition may manifest itself In one or many of 
several ways. In days of yore, it rushed the im- 
petuous youth Into battle field. To-day it is very 
apt to express itself in a desire for a higher educa- 
tion. Everything depends on the attitude one takes 
toward higher education. I feel that the great 
problems of the day demand the attention of the 
best and broadest men that the age affords, and that 

212 



College Men without Money 213 

no uneducated man can ever hope to realize his best. 
I think that any man, in order to do the most good 
for himself and for his fellow beings, must be able 
to plunge into the battle of life unhampered by lack 
of preparation. I realize that many walks of life 
are open only to those who have a college or uni- 
versity education. 

Here, then, is why I am working my way through 
college: because I feel that by so doing I can broaden 
myself physically, mentally, and morally; that I can 
fit myself to cope with the questions of the day, and 
conquer; that it will enlarge my possibilities in life 
almost beyond comparison; that it will not only en- 
able me to become a success, but, if I apply myself 
rightly, that it will leave me in a position to do 
something of value for coming generations; and 
that, for my having lived and done, the world may, 
in some way, be bettered. 

Many are the means which I employ to accom- 
plish this end. It requires not only the making of 
money, but the saving of money as well. It re- 
quires a systematic arrangement of time, and a con- 
stant concentration of energy to the task at hand. 

During the school year I have done almost all de- 
grees of physical labor, ranging from folding papers 
to shoveling coal and digging tile ditches. My 
motto is, " anything that is honest." A college 
town always affords plenty of employment. I find 
that steady work of some kind is much more satis- 
factory than depending upon odd jobs. I wait on 



214 College Men without Money 

tables In a hotel for my board and like the plan very 
much. 

I spend the summer months in the country, gen- 
erally at farm work. I sold books one summer. 
Last summer I spent a month and a half at tiling, 
and find that it pays very well, but the work is 
rather severe for a student. I am able to save 
from $90 to $125 during the three summer months. 
With this much in hand I am able to meet expenses 
very well. 

Working one's way through college demands 
economy, hard work, and determination; but the 
end in view justifies the means. It is a real pleas- 
sure for one to feel that he is doing things himself. 
With the possibilities that are open to the young 
man to-day it seems that everyone ought to be will- 
ing to devote a few years to preparing himself to 
better understand and deal with the conditions un- 
der which we live. 

Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. 



DIFFICULTIES PREPARE FOR REAL WORK 

ERMIL B. FRYE 

IN every college town there are many openings 
for the young man and woman who wish to earn 
their way through college. There are always men 
who will make room in their homes or in their place 
of business, for that young man who is anxious 
enough about acquiring an education to work, for 
it with his hands. Seldom do we find such a per- 
son making his way through school by working at 
the same thing each year. More frequently we find 
them working at the best thing that offers. It is in 
this way that I have made and am making my way. 

Usually young ambitious persons work their way 
through school because it is their only means of ac- 
quiring an education. In other words, they are 
self-supporting. Others, however, who are not 
forced to do outside work in order to go to school, 
find it very advisable to take upon themselves a cer- 
tain amount in addition to their studies. 

The first thing I asked myself was: Am I able, 
physically and mentally, to work my way through 
school? Some are not physically able to do out- 
side work and to carry their school work at the 
same time. Others are not mentally qualified to 

ais 



2i6 College Men without Money 

pursue their studies in an official manner while mak- 
ing their expenses, in whole or in part. I have 
found, however, that by making a definite schedule 
for each day, I can give a certain amount of time 
to outside work, though the time allotted to each 
of my school subjects may possibly be more or less 
than the time required by others for those same 
studies. It may be seen that it is not for everyone to 
carry regular work in school and while doing so to 
earn his expenses. Yet if a man can he is better off 
to busy himself with work that is bringing him an 
Income. In taking outside work, I feel that I can 
do it without detracting from the time required for 
the preparation of my studies. 

Again, I have always been taught that for a man 
who has never been placed under obligations to 
himself in any way, it is better that he bear a little 
responsibility. The young men who jump out into 
the whirl of life's battles are at a great disadvantage, 
but the young men who, while in school, have 
learned how to contend with impending circum- 
stances, will be enabled to cope more successfully 
with the circumstances which will surely confront 
them after their school days have ended. I be- 
lieve that every thinking person will bear me out 
when I say that the strongest college graduates are 
those who have known what it was to roll up their 
sleeves and to help do the ordinary commonplace 
things. If, by being responsible, one acquires a new 
experience and added strength, it is essential that 



College Men without Money 217 

we assume some responsibility. Therefore, I feel 
that I am making my education twofold in value by 
working my way through school. 

To many there comes the opportunity of doing 
some work along the line of their intended profes- 
sion and in such cases outside work is to be en- 
couraged. Such is my privilege. I am studying 
for the ministry and have been preaching for four 
years in connection with my school work, earning in 
this way the greater part of my expenses. In that 
four years, I have written, in outline form, three 
hundred and ninety-two sermons. To some this 
may not represent much, but to me it represents a 
great deal, including extensive research along dif- 
ferent lines and the task of putting together my 
thoughts in a logical form. I feel that I will be 
more capable of preaching my first sermon after 
leaving school, having had all these experiences in 
the pulpit and in the study. 

Furthermore, practical experience brings us into 
close touch with people. In this manner, have I 
learned the different ways of the church and I have 
become acquainted with the various classes of peo- 
ple which are represented in the church. This means 
a great deal to any man, for there are many com- 
plex situations in connection with the church, and 
there are also many matters associated indirectly 
with the church, which demand solution. 

The first means by which I made a part of my 
expenses was by scrubbing halls and washing win- 



2i8 , College Men without Money 

dows. This I did in compensation for my board 
and a part of my room rent. It was new work to 
me; for I had never scrubbed a floor in my life. 
Yet it enabled me to see the world from the stand- 
point of the porter and I frankly confess that, after 
I had once gone through this experience, I had a 
different regard for the men and women of this oc- 
cupation. 

Later by selling and delivering papers, I got to 
see the world from the standpoint of the newsboy. 
This proved to be a valuable experience to me. For 
the first time in my Hfe I faced the mobs of the 
street and transacted business with them. The 
many faces into which I looked made impressions 
upon my life, some of which have been lasting. 
The care free and the burdened; the hilarious and 
the melancholy; the custom-bound and the independ- 
ent; the victims of disease and those to whom dis- 
ease was unknown; in fact, people representing ev- 
ery condition and every class of life were among 
those with whom I came in contact. The good 
which I received from dealing with these widely 
different and distinct types of humanity is measured 
only by the resolutions that a man makes when he 
sees the beautiful and the unattractive, the uplift- 
ing and the debasing, the efficient and the inefficient, 
all within the experience of a day. 

After my experience as a newsboy, I secured a 
place in the college dining hall to carry off and 
to scrape the dishes. This I did for a school year. 



College Men 'without Money 219 

Though I had little liking for this work, I am bet- 
ter off because I (iid it and I have more sympathy 
for the housewife, the daily routine of whose duties 
every true mother must endure. From this place I 
was transferred a step higher. I began to wait on 
tables — a good place in which to cultivate one's 
temper and to learn the art of being patient. Here 
one deals with all kinds of temperaments. The 
waiter must listen to the reasons (given by the girl 
who came In late) why toast Is better buttered be- 
fore It Is served, and why coffee ought to be elim- 
inated from the menu. Of course, he comes In con- 
tact with others who do not care what they have to 
eat, just so they have enough of it, and so It Is hot. 
Hence, such work Is valuable experience, and the 
waiter who for two or three years finds these faults 
repulsive to him and then allows himself to drift 
into the same sort of thing, deserves little pity. 

At the present I am holding a student pastorate 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. I can reach 
my appointment by leaving Saturday night, being 
able also to get back In time for my first class Mon- 
day. A great deal of fault Is found with the stu- 
dent preacher, and usually this criticism originates 
within the college halls. In some schools he is re- 
garded as one who cannot do anything else but 
preach — a sort of abnormal being; in others, how- 
ever, he gets the respect which Is justly due him. 
We do not need to investigate very far to find that 
most denominational schools owe their very exist- 



220 College Men without Money 

ence to the never-tiring work of the clergy. By 
making my school life twofold, I am enabled to 
state my theories and conclusions from actual expe- 
rience ; for each day I receive incentives which serve 
to promote the line of work which I am pursuing 
and if I should once more go through the process 
of finding my place in the world, I am of the opinion 
that I would be drawn into the work of a student 
preacher. 

We often hear that the college is a place where 
preparation for the work of life is made. Our 
elders tell us that the work of the college serves to 
broaden our horizon by changing our perspective; 
but the college, to the man who has never supported 
himself, will not mean a revelation to the world's 
activities in their most true and real form. After 
graduating from college a man will find that he 
has awakened in a real world in which men are bear- 
ing responsibilities, and will realize that In every 
phase of life the world is calling for men who have 
had the most experience, who have received the 
strength which comes only from carrying a load. 

Indianola,, Iowa. 



PLUCK RATHER THAN LUCK 

r. D. HENRY 

THE demand of to-day and to-morrow will be 
for men who have had a college training, 
while the men who have little or no education will 
be compelled to fill the mediocre places in life. This 
fact was profoundly impressed upon my mind while 
yet in the grades of our common school. The per 
cent, of the men who have made good under ad- 
verse circumstances awoke In me dissatisfaction with 
my surroundings and circumstances. I resolved to 
attain some better station in life. 

The fact that Abraham Lincoln, in spite of his 
physical appearance, financial condition, and many 
obstacles, any one of which would discourage the 
ordinary boy, attained the highest honors in the gift 
of our nation, was an Inspiration to me. Marshall 
Field at one time was a poor boy, a clerk, in a coun- 
try store, who, upon visiting Chicago, resolved to 
become a great merchant. 

I perceived that the keynote of the greatness of 
such men as Lincoln and Field was not only in hav- 
ing an ideal, but that, never ceasing, never flinching, 
never faltering, they kept their ideal before them. 



222 College Men without Money 

These men realized there was no victory In retreat. 
They were men with a mission and an aim. They 
had faith in the standard they were striving to at- 
tain, and consequently they were truly successful. 

Because of the fact that the world has an unlim- 
ited field for the man with a college education, while 
the uneducated man Is forced to mingle with the 
mass in the lower walks of life, a college education 
became my ideal. Circumstances were such that I 
had to work my way through college, if I ever at- 
tained my ideal. At first the barrier seemed in- 
surmountable, and I allowed myself to think of a 
college education more as a dream than something 
which I might actually obtain. After coming in 
contact with some college men, however, I found 
that my dream of an ideal might become a reality. 
Through many discouraging difficulties somehow I 
clung tenaciously to my ideal, broke down every bar- 
rier that arose, and came to Simpson College. 

Everything was entirely different from what I had 
pictured. However, my ideas are not changed so 
much as they are strengthened and broadened. The 
vital question of work while in school, which at first 
seemed dark and gloomy, has changed its aspect 
entirely. In the first place the thing that Impressed 
me most forcibly was that the boys and girls who 
take class honors are students who are compelled to 
work their way through college. It is not that any 
of us lack talent. We all have sufficient talent, but 
where we are deficient is In will-power to persistently 



College Men without Money 223 

keep our ideals before us and attain that ideal with 
the vigor of a Field or a Lincoln. 

The next thing that I readily perceive is that the 
student who earns his way through appreciates his 
opportunity. He realizes that fortune smiles upon 
those who roll up their sleeves, put their shoulder to 
the wheel, and have backbone and stamina to fight 
the battle, and not turn aside for a little dirt or 
hard physical labor. The student who strikes the 
word " luck " from his. vocabulary waits for no 
psychological moment, loiters not for a miracle to 
occur, but rather creates the miracle, makes his own 
opportunities. 

In our college, here in the Middle West, the man- 
ner of earning one's way varies a great deal. We 
are blessed with a rich country and the greater per 
cent, of the people are prosperous. The majority 
of students canvass during the summer vacation. I 
was formerly employed as a clerk in a hardware 
store before coming to college. Next summer, how- 
ever, I will take up some form of canvassing. Can- 
vassing has two distinct features that should appeal 
to the student; first, the opportunity to study human 
nature, and secondly, the fact that the harder you 
work the more you earn. Next school year I will 
have a position whereby I can earn my board and 
room, and with my summer earnings I shall be able 
to return for another year's work. 

My first reason for working my way through col- 
lege was because of financial necessity. Now if I 



224 College Men without Money 

were to choose between the two avenues of secur- 
ing a college education I would cast my lot with the 
boy who works his way. His conceptions of life 
are broader, and he is better fitted for the battles of 
life he will meet when he leaves college. Thus, 
in many ways I consider the necessity of working 
one's way through college not a detriment, but a 
blessing In disguise, which gives one a greater knowl- 
edge and a broader conception of what a life worth 
while really means. 

Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. 



POVERTY IS NOT HIS MASTER 

BYRON E. JOHNSON 

IT has been my misfortune, or fortune, to be 
reared practically In the arms of poverty. I 
have spent the most of my days on a little farm in 
southwest Arkansas, the family consisting of six chil- 
dren and father and mother, living in an old log 
house on the farm. Just at the time when we were 
getting to where we could make a crop without buy- 
ing everything on time, we lost about all we had on 
account of the ill health of my mother. 

I was eighteen years of age when I finished the 
seventh grade. I thought then that I had enough 
education for any ordinary man. I had finished 
geography in the high school, I knew United States 
history fairly well, and had been through fractions 
in arithmetic; so I thought I was prepared for life. 
Besides having enough education, as I supposed, 
mother's health was very bad; so I decided that it 
was time for me to stop fooling with school and go 
to work. 

[The next school term came around and mother's 
health was no better; so as I had to stay at home, I 
decided to attend school. Three days after school 
was out, mother died. " Now as mother is gone 

225 



226 College Men without Money 

and I have finisihed one grade more than is neces- 
sary, I must get out and make something to replace 
our loss," was about as high a thought as ever en- 
tered my mind. 

Along in the summer I went to New Mexico. 
There were several children where I stayed, and 
when they started to school, the thoughts of the dear 
old school days came to me, and I wished that I 
were in school. As soon as I could get money 
enough, I returned home and entered school. Al- 
though I had learned enough to begin to realize my 
ignorance, I was still determined to make some- 
thing to replace our loss. With this in view, I went 
to Texas, before school was out, to take a position 
at $30.00 per month and board. This was more 
than the average man received; yet it did not take 
me long to realize the fact that competition is too 
hard for any ordinary man to earn enough by hon- 
est labor to place himself in good circumstances in 
twelve or fifteen years. I had come to desire a 
nice home surrounded by the comforts of life, and 
when this desire dawned upon me, I decided to fin- 
ish the high school. 

I returned home and entered school at the begin- 
ning of the term. After some insisting on the part 
of my professor, I decided to go through college. 
I had practically two years of high school work be- 
fore me, and I had no money at all; still, the more 
I thought about it, the more determined I was to 
take a college education. 



College Men without Money 227 

By working hard and doing without many neces- 
sities, I managed to graduate from the high school 
at the end of two years, with first honors. As the 
time of my departure for college drew near, I 
found that my determination increased. I bor- 
rowed a little money with which to make the start. 
I arrived at Fayetteville, Arkansas, September 18, 
19 1 2. As the old boys have nearly all of the work 
about the University, it is hard for a freshman to 
get work. But after school had been going on a 
week, I secured a position which paid me $5.00 per 
month. I soon made a good many friends, includ- 
ing the commandant. With their help I have been 
able to get enough work to carry me through my 
first year. I wish to say to those who read this, that 
I never could have made my way this far without 
these friends, and a determination. I try to make 
all the friends I can, but I never let a friend come 
between me and duty. 

University of Arkansas, 
Fayetteville, Arkansas, 



DEFEAT DOES NOT MEAN FAILURE 

ROBERT JOHNSON, JR. 

Have you succeeded as yet on the way to success 
Or has your life been one of despair? 

Have you taken life in its daily process, 
Or chosen your path with a care? 

A DEFEAT so long as It Is not on the roll of 
the Grim Reaper Is not a defeat but a vic- 
tory. You cannot win without experience, and de- 
feat Is only a blazer to the goal of success. 

You can afford to take the harsh treatment from 
the hands of the world, because It means that later 
on In life you will be able to undergo the same with- 
out flinching. 

Set your mark and keep your eye on it. When 
every chance seems gone and all the world fighting, 
you look towards your goal — stop and think — 
do not rush off Into the old road of " I give up." 
Life Is worth more to you than a complete failure — 
you can succeed half way and be a howling success. 
Keep your eye on your mark. 

Failures are recorded from the mere fact that a 
man quits at the first mile in the race of life. From 
the time you start In until the end has arrived, form 
a determination to succeed In some way or another. 

228 



College Men without Money 229 

Make It a persistent effort even though failures pile 
high on your list. 

You cannot gain the determination in a day nor 
a year. Every day of your life beats the time as a 
pendulum of a clock, and every day you must try to 
get that determination. In the end even though 
you haven't shone as a brilliant star, you have 
forrned an idea of what it means to be determined. 

A man who has not suffered defeat is the man who 
will utterly fail when defeat does come. Experience 
is teacher of belief, and in the defeats you receive 
you learn to love the battle of life. The realiza- 
tion comes that life is a little of your own making 
and not at all a matter of course. 

Work is an excellent developer of the mind. It 
winds you in and out through the different roads 
of humanity and you come to a point of seeing the 
realness of life. Xhe unreal is left standing as a 
skeleton, weak and frail. From your position in 
which you are toiling for an education you cannot 
fail to choose the reality. It has a determination 
and all views are in accordance with yours — a per- 
sistent effort to succeed. 

Shurtlef College, Alton, III. 



" START RIGHT " 

WALTER A. JOHNSON 

I AM glad to be numbered in that group of stu- 
dents who are working their way through col- 
lege. It has fallen to my lot for many years to 
make my own way in the world. Early in life I 
decided that the best thing I could do was to ob- 
tain a good practical education as soon as I could, 
and then I would be better able to make a living. 

I had no means with which to go to school, as 
my parents died when I was quite small, leaving me 
none of this world's goods; but, through a friend I 
heard of a school near my home in Georgia, where 
one could go without much money. So I applied 
for admission, and entered The Berry School of 
Rome, Ga., in 1908. It is a Christian industrial 
school for country boys whose means are limited. 
I remained there four years, working at the school 
during the summer to pay all expenses for the fol- 
lowing year. I finished there in 19 12. 

It was while I was at The Berry School that my 
vision of life was broadened, and I was determined 
that my main object would not be simply to make 
a living, but to be of some service in the world, es- 
pecially to those who were less fortunate than I. 

230 



College Men without Money 231 

I decided, therefore, to go through college, if pos- 
sible. It was the influence of the noble founder 
and teachers of Berry School which gave me a de- 
sire to go to college, and it was they who helped me 
financially through my first year at college. 

This is my second year at Davidson College, 
North Carolina, and I believe I can finish the four- 
year course without very much more outside help. 
The first part of last year, I put in a good deal of 
my spare time in working for some of the profes- 
sors, but in the spring term I spent the time in col- 
lecting kodak films to be sent off for developing, for 
which I received a liberal commission. I found this 
work to be much more profitable than the other odd 
jobs I had been doing. I still have this agency, 
and besides, my room-mate and I represent a laun- 
dry and a shoe repairing establishment of Charlotte, 
N. C. The three agencies take up very little more 
time than one, yet, our profits are more than trebled. 

For the spring term, I will wait on tables at one 
of the boarding houses, and this will pay my board 
for the term. I also have the monitorship of our 
class, and this pays well for the time it requires. I 
don't say that with all this work my studies are not 
somewhat neglected, but with systematic work I do 
not believe it will interfere very seriously with my 
classroom work. 

Last spring when I was looking out for work for 
the summer, my attention was called to that of can- 
vassing. I never thought I would like this work, 



22Z College Men without Money 

but knew that there was good pay In It, so I decided 
to try It. I liked the work much better than I ex- 
pected, and It Is very profitable business. I believe 
that the average student who works hard could make 
at least $100.00 per month canvassing, and meeting 
with different people throughout the country and 
studying human nature Is certainly profitable educa- 
tionally. I know the experience has helped me a 
great deal, and I would not take a considerable sum 
of money for the training I received while canvass- 
ing. I am going into the same work next summer. 
I don't believe that any young man should de- 
prive himself of a college education, simply because 
he thinks he cannot afford it. My advice is to start 
right In, and some kind of work will present itself, 
enabling you to work your way to graduation. 

Davidson College, Davidson, N. C. 



THE REAL QUESTION 

H. E. JORGENSON 

TO-DAY if a young man or woman lacking fi- 
nancial means wishes to get an education, 
the question is not : Am I able to get it ? It is : 
Am I willing to work for it ? I have not completed 
my education, but I am working for it. With the 
hope that it may encourage someone who thinks 
working for an education is a colossal task, or that 
it may suggest a way, I shall tell how I have been 
working my way through college. 

At fourteen I debated whether I should complete 
my high school course or not and ended with the 
belief that a commercial school would give me a 
more practical education than the high school and 
would put me on a salary basis when I was through. 
There were six of us children at home ; as they would 
grow up the expense of keeping our family decently 
would soon exceed father's income, for he was a 
wage earner. It would cost about $15.00 per 
month to go to the commercial school. This father 
could spare out of our month's savings, but it would 
be a sacrifice ; yet he was willing to do it. I decided 
to get a business education, but determined to pay 
the expenses myself. At Laurium, Mich., two miles 

233 



234 College Men without Money 

from my home, was the Laurium Commercial 
School. The day after my father and I had agreed 
upon the course I should follow, I went to Laurium 
and had a talk with the principal of the school. He 
needed a janitor and I offered to do the sweeping, 
dusting, window-washing, firing and all duties in- 
cident to a janitorship in return for all expenses. 
He hesitated, for I was young, and small for my 
age. Finally he agreed, and one day after the open- 
ing of the regular fall session I was at work on my 
Bookkeeping. 

It was hard work, especially when winter came, 
when I had to trudge through the deep snow, and 
sometimes it was dangerous, when a northwestern 
blizzard would come sailing over us from Lake Su- 
perior. The stoves of the school had to be fed dur- 
ing the months between October and April. It was 
necessary to carry the fuel from the basement to the 
third floor at convenient times and to arrive early in 
the morning to enliven the fires. It was hard work 
on the muscles, but my heart was seldom heavy, for 
the students were considerate and kind and they 
made me feel inspired rather than humiliated; in 
fact, I was one of them. I succeeded in covering as 
much work as the average student and at an aver- 
age standing, and in a year and a half I had com- 
pleted the combined commercial course. 

Just before leaving the commercial school, I made 
application for a position with a commission house 
in our city. They took me on trial and for awhile 



College Men without Money 235 

It seemed as If they would not keep me. But I suc- 
ceeded in sticking and by burning some midnight oil, 
and a lot of digging managed to fall In line with the 
work, and It was a task, for the accounting system 
used was a cost-finding system and made the work of 
the bookkeeper difficult and a matter of great re- 
sponsibility. I remained in this position three years 
when I resigned to accept a position with a lumbering 
firm during one winter's operations. 

I had long come to learn that my education was 
Inadequate and many times regretted that I left the 
high school. To make the best of it, I spent most 
of my evenings in the public library and in my room 
covering lost ground. As my Ignorance made It- 
self more and more manifest, I began to think out 
some plan by which I could get to college. The 
winter I worked with the lumbering firm, I was em- 
ployed three evenings a week tutoring a class of 
men In a large cooperative department store, who 
wanted to make ready for promotions. This work 
brought me some money and experience. The 
money I had saved would not keep me more than a 
year In college, but I thought that with a little more 
preparation I could teach the commercial subjects 
In some college in return for my expenses. So I re- 
solved to take my earnings and attend the Zanerian 
School of Penmanship, Columbus, Ohio, that I 
might be capable of teaching Penmanship as well as 
Stenography and Bookkeeping; but father was 
stricken with pneumonia and disabled for six months 



236 College Men without Money 

and I gave him the greater part of my savings to 
help him out, and retained only $150.00, which 
would pay all traveling expenses, tuition and room 
rent, but would leave nothing for board. Yet I 
went to Columbus, and a week had not passed be- 
fore I had a place as waiter in one of the best res- 
taurants in the city, where I worked 2 ^ hours a day 
and got my three meals, and the work did not in- 
terfere with my classes. Numbers of students in 
the Ohio State University and other colleges of 
Columbus earned their board that way. I made 
many acquaintances through my connection with the 
church, Sunday school and Y. M. C. A., but my be- 
ing a waiter in a restaurant did not seem to hurt my 
standing with them. 

Before eight months had passed my money was 
spent and I began to seek a position. It would not 
have been difficult to get employment as a book- 
keeper or stenographer, but I wanted to teach. I 
was not seeking long. Mr. Zaner, principal of the 
school, called me to his desk one morning and asked 
me if I wanted to go to North Carolina to teach. 
I replied that I would. After a short correspond- 
ence I had my contract with the Bingham School, 
Mebane, N. C. At this time it was necessary to 
borrow some money, which I did, and after making 
a little pleasure trip through the eastern states I ar- 
rived at Bingham School and began to teach Book- 
keeping, Shorthand and Typewriting. That was 
last year. During the day I taught and during the 



College Men without Money 237 

evenings I studied history, literature, mathematics 
and science. The reading I had done came to good 
stead, and I found that I was not so far behind in 
my education after all. Before the year was half 
gone I came in touch with Elon College about fif- 
teen miles away. Learning that the institution had 
a commercial department, I wrote to the president, 
offering my services as a commercial teacher for 
expenses in the college. My offer was finally ac- 
cepted. When spring came I had paid all debts 
and saved some money. With it I went to Roches- 
ter, N. Y., and attended the Rochester Business In- 
stitute, securing a teacher's diploma. 

Last September I entered upon the work I am do- 
ing here. As a student I have twenty hours of col- 
lege work per week and I am teaching bookkeeping 
and stenography. Altogether it amounts to about 
thirty-two hours of work per week. It gives me 
much to do, yet I am not sorry, for I have no chance 
to waste any time and there is not much tendency to 
fall into lazy habits. Besides my regular work I 
give one and one-half hours daily to gymnasium and 
spend every Monday evening in literary society 
work; in fact I enjoy as many privileges and oppor- 
tunities as any other student has time to enjoy, and 
I believe that I would not be doing any better if 
someone else was paying my expenses. Now the 
way is open before me to get my college education. 
When the proper time comes It is my plan to enter 
the University of Michigan to study for a profes- 



238 College Men without Money 

sion. At the present time my purse Is empty, yet 
I am sure there will be a way; there always was a 
way when I was willing to pay the price, namely, a 
little hard work and a careful management of my 
time and means. Of course, there have been times 
of doubt and disappointment, when I have been 
among strangers, or when temporary pressure of 
work has made me feel that I could not hold out 
another minute; but those incidents have been 
eclipsed in the regular progress of better experiences 
and now I feel that I would not have the past to be 
other than it has been, and I face the future with a 
hopeful heart. 

Elan College, N. C. 



WILLINGNESS TO WORK A GREAT ASSET 

ALLEN L. MOORE 

AFTER graduating from a high school in 1907, 
I was thrown upon my own resources. The 
possibiHty of entering college and paying my own 
way seemed only a faint hope. I had read of such 
things but, at the time, it seemed too great a handi- 
cap with which to burden myself. For three years 
I worked at the collection window of the First Na- 
tional Bank in my home town, and in September, 
19 10, quit my position and left for Minneapolis, 
determined to take at least a year or two at the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota. I had four hundred dollars 
in my pocket, the result of three years' savings. My 
first work was given to me by the secretary of the 
University Y. M. C. A., and for two years I took 
care of the Y. M. C. A. building and the university 
observatory on the campus. For this, I received 
twenty dollars a month, which helped considerably, 
— especially in view of the fact that I had joined a 
fraternity and my expenses were somewhat higher 
than the average. My first summer vacation was 
spent in a machine shop and I saved $150.00 from 
my summer's wages. This and what I had earned 
while the University was in session paid my expenses 

239 



240 College Men without Money 

the first two years. By this time I had decided to 
finish my course at any cost. The second and third 
summer vacations were spent at outdoor carpenter 
work which proved both remunerative and health- 
ful. In my junior year I was given the care of the 
furnace at the fraternity house, in which I lived, In 
return for my board. I was also advertising man- 
ager of the Gopher, the junior annual, and solicited 
advertising on a commission basis. In the mean- 
time, I was active in college activities and had been 
elected to an associate editorship of the Minnesota 
Daily, the student newspaper. In the spring of last 
year the students elected me to fill the position of 
managing editor, carrying with it a salary of twenty- 
five dollars a month. The amount has since been 
raised to thirty dollars a month for the nine months 
of the college year. At odd times I have done 
newspaper work for metropolitan newspapers. At 
the present time I am receiving, besides my regular 
salary, from five to eight dollars a week from 
Minneapolis newspapers for reporting university 
news. The University is also paying me $5 a 
month for drilling as captain in the cadet corps, 
making my total earnings from $50 to $60 per 
month at the present time. I am carrying full 
senior work in the University and, although it keeps 
me busy handling it all, I expect to graduate next 
June without any conditions or failures. 

What has been accomplished is no more than any 
young man can do. I have been especially favored 



College Men without Money 241 

at all times with the best of friends, who have 
pushed me forward at every opportunity. A wil- 
lingness to work Is, I have found, the best asset. 

University of Minnesota, 
Minneapolis, Minn. 



KEEP ON TRYING 

PAUL P. OMAHART 

BEING filled with the determination to force the 
future to surrender its best opportunities to 
me, and fully realizing that this determination must 
be the mainstay of my confidence in my own powers 
to accomplish whatever end I had in view, I set out 
for college one September day, the goal of my edu- 
cational dreams. I had forty dollars in my pocket 
and possessed hopes of securing several jobs that 
would furnish me board, room, and a little spending 
money. 

I spent most of my days around and about Day- 
ton, Ohio, prior to this time and had never been in 
a larger city. Columbus, Ohio, the capitol of the 
State and the location of Ohio State University, ap- 
pealed to me as being a place that must surely afford 
me an opportunity to earn my way through college. 

Having arrived within her borders, I immediately 
hastened to the vicinity of the University and rented 
a room. I soon found a room-mate, the room cost- 
ing us seven dollars. I had decided that if neces- 
sary I could sleep in a hay-mow and I would have 
done that very thing before I would have turned 
my steps homeward. 

I next picked out a restaurant. The proprietress 
242 



College Men without Money 243 

came forward and gave a smile which encouraged 
me to present my cause to her. It was not very 
many minutes before I secured a promise of a job, — 
to be taken on probation. This was what I wanted, 
as I knew I could soon impress her that I meant 
business. 

But this only guaranteed me my board. I then 
sought a job up town as clerk. I had had a little 
experience in a shoe store at home and felt rather 
safe in tackling such a job in Columbus. At the 
second store to which I applied, I was able to make 
a bargain to serve as clerk nine hours every Satur- 
day for three dollars. This made me feel that my 
present college problem was solved. 

Before the year was up I lost my shoe store posi- 
tion and applied at a haberdasher store. I had 
little experience in this line, but felt that if I should 
heed instruction carefully and work diligently I 
could hold down the position. Owing to this fact 
I was never disappointed by losing work due to my 
inability to " make good." 

During the summer, at the close of the first year, 
I was able to secure a position as stenographer. I 
obtained ray stenographic knowledge the year after 
I left high school, working during the day and at- 
tending a business school In the evenings. I might 
also state here that I was able to supplement my 
earnings during my first year at the University by 
little jobs of typewriting to be had about the campus. 
The money that I earned during the summer had to 
be partially diverted into other channels, and left 



244 College Men without Money 

me but little more to start the second year than I 
had the first. I was a little more familiar with sur- 
roundings, however, and knew just what avenues to 
take for remunerative employment. I went about 
it almost as I did the preceding year. I first ob- 
tained a restaurant job. Then it was not long 
before I heard of a stenographic position open re- 
quiring several hours of my time each evening. 
This was the most lucrative channel I had yet 
entered. It was not permanent, however, as the 
employer realized that for two more dollars per 
week he could command the services of a girl for 
full time each day. I then returned to the restau- 
rant, and now claim it to be my only salvation. 

If I may add a few words of advice -to this ex- 
perience of mine for any who are similarly deter- 
mined, I would say, " Don't give up the ship," even 
though you are unable to see from whence your next 
dollar is coming. Make every possible avenue refuse 
you first. Enlist the services of your professors, 
make application with every employment bureau, go 
up one street and down the other searching for 
work. This I have done and have met with success. 
If you will do it, your college course is an assured 
reality. If you are a man of this caliber, your 
studies will not be neglected. After your gradua- 
tion you will enter life, having met all its require- 
ments for success. 

Ohio State University, 
Columbus, Ohio. 



OPTIMISM IS AN ASSET 

EDGAR B. OXLEY 

I HAD never seriously considered going to col- 
lege until, during my junior year in high school, 
a visiting university professor, who addressed the 
student body on " The Advantages of a College 
Education," offered statistics to show that, while 
only two per cent, of the high school students of this 
country ever graduate from college, about seventy- 
five per cent, of the successful men to-day are col- 
lege graduates. This came as a surprise and a reve- 
lation to me, and set me to thinking seriously about 
what advantages a college education really had to 
offer, with the result that I decided that it has many 
in this day and age. And so I resolved to go to 
college. 

Then there arose the question of finances. I con- 
sulted my parents ; they encouraged me in my ambi- 
tion to continue my education, but told me that if 
I went away to school it would be on my own re- 
sources. However, I knew that there were a great 
many self-supporting students in the colleges of the 
United States. I had sufficient confidence in myself 
to be willing to make a trial at earning my way as 
others were doing. 

245 



246 College Men without Money 

I entered the University of Arizona in the fall 
of 191 1. The first two or three weeks I made 
expenses by beating carpets, hoeing weeds, and mop- 
ping floors; then a newly made friend, the superin- 
tendent of the University dining hall, gave me a job 
there waiting on table. I was the only student 
waiter. There were. In addition, eight or nine Japs 
serving as waiters, with whom I managed to get 
along all right. From that time on I have had easy 
sailing. To-day, the Japs are no longer In the mess 
hall, but in their places are thirteen student waiters. 
This is Indicative of the rapid growth of our college, 
and particularly of the number of self-supporting 
students who enter every year. Ninety per cent, of 
the men students of the University of Arizona are 
self-supporting; this Is said to be the highest average 
of any college known. 

There are three essentials that the young man 
who enters college with the Intention of working his 
way muist possess. First of all, he must have 
stamina. Call it what you will: " grit " or " sand " 
or " pluck," it all amounts to the same thing, that 
he must " screw his courage to the sticking point," 
and. In the face of disappointments and rebuffs, keep 
it screwed there. 

The fellow who can best do this is the one who 
has the happy faculty of looking on the bright side 
of things. For the young man who starts out to 
work his way through college, an optimistic tempera- 
ment and a flat pocket-book are to be preferred to 



College Men without Money 247 

a pessimistic disposition and a purse with $25 in it. 
The college or university man working his way 
should take to heart that little rhyme which says : 

"It is easy enough to be pleasant 
When life goes by like a song, 

But the man worth while 

Is the man who can smile 
When everything goes dead wrong." 

A third essential is inventiveness and originality 
of mind. Many a fellow has worked his way be- 
cause he could invent opportunities, while others sat 
and waited for them to come their way. ,The young 
man who goes to college ambitious to work his way 
ought not to become discouraged when he gets there 
because he finds the usual occupations taken. Let 
him consider that they are not the only possible ways 
of earning money; that there are others, dozens, yes, 
scores, of other ways, and that it remains for him to 
invent the way. 

These three essentials just discussed are those 
that are demanded of the young man. And in re- 
turn he gains from his experience — what? 

For one thing, a stronger confidence in himself; 
a deeper, more abiding faith in his own abilities ; he 
puts them to the test, and finds them not wanting. 
And if he finds any wanting, he feels stronger in 
realizing his weaknesses. 

Another thing that he gains is a surer appreciation 
of the value of money. He may never have had 



248 College Men without Money 

to earn much before. But when at college he is 
thrown on his own resources, when he gets each dol- 
lar by hard work, he appreciates its value — and he 
will be slow to waste it. 

Grit, an optimistic outlook, and a quickness to dis- 
cern or to invent opportunities, then, are the three 
essentials for the young man ambitious to earn his 
way through school. And when he has achieved 
ihis ambition, when his college days are over, and 
someone asks him, " Was the experience worth all 
the hardships it cost you?" he can unhesitatingly 
answer, " Yes, many, many times over." 

University of Arizona, 
Tucson, Ariz. 



THE DESIRE FOR SOMETHING BETTER 

FRED I. PATRICK 

WHEN a boy at the age of sixteen, I lived with 
my father on a very poor, rocky, stumpy 
farm near Joplin, Mo. My education and financial 
condition were very limited. I attended the coun- 
try graded school until graduation. One day as I 
was toiling among the stumps on our little farm, it 
came into my mind, " What good am I doing here, 
and what good might I do had I the opportunity? " 
It was only a few weeks before I received a circular 
letter from the Joplin Business College, offering me 
the opportunity of attending this school and of mak- 
ing my expenses while there. I had only $25 and 
to me the task seemed hard and the burden heavy; 
but within there was a burning desire for something 
better, something more elevating than the company 
ions with whom I had associated. 

On the 19th day of November, 1909, I entered 
the Joplin Business College. I enrolled and gradu- 
ated In the bookkeeping, stenographic, and penman- 
ship departments within a period of two years. I 
was compelled to earn entirely my board, room, and 
clothing while I was attending school ; and, in order 
to do this, I waited on tables in restaurants, mowed 

249 



250 College Men without Money 

lawns on Saturdays during the summer, did janitor's 
work at the business college, was janitor at the 
Presbyterian church, read gas meters for the Joplin 
Gas Company, and worked in a shoe store on Satur- 
day nights. 

After graduating, September i, 191 1, I was 
chosen as assistant secretary of the Y. M. C. A., 
Pittsburg, Kansas. I had been with the Y. M. 
C. A. only one year when I concluded that my work 
in that department was limited, and that I needed 
more education in order to be of service to my 
fellow-men. The boys' secretary assisted me in get- 
ting the position as private secretary to Dr. Camp- 
bell, President of Cooper College, which I am now 
attending. In this way I am able to make my ex- 
penses and carry regular college work at the same 
time. 

During the summer months I travel as field rep- 
resentative for the Pittsburg Business College. In 
this way I make enough to buy my clothing and pay 
incidental expenses during the winter. 

Every man who makes his way for three or four 
years in a college of any kind realizes in a full meas- 
ure the value of his time and money. He learns to 
have confidence in himself; he learns to be more 
dependent upon himself; and in many ways he learns 
the ways of the world. 

Many times during my business college career I 
went without meals in order that I might have 
enough money to meet the other expenses of the 



College Men without Money 251 

month. My tuition was paid, only as I could make 
enough over my board and room to make payments 
on It. 

My desire Is to become a Y. M. C. A. secretary, 
and It Is to this end that I am working. I hope to 
attain this blessing by making my own way through 
college. 

Cooper College, Sterling, Kansas. 



DETERMINATION VERSUS POVERTY 

LEROY W. PORTER 

AT the age of twenty-one Leroy had developed 
the idea that he ought to do something for 
mankind and for the world in which he lived. One 
day he sat in the shade of a large tree pondering 
over this matter, and he thought, " I can never do 
my part in making the world without an education." 
And he thought that every man had a part; for he 
had come to see through his reading that most men 
who had accomplished things were educated. But 
as he turned these things over in his mind, he re- 
membered that somewhere he had heard of young 
men working their way through college, and he said, 
as if speaking to the ants that were ascending and 
descending the trunk of the tree, " If others have 
done that, I can." 

After he had rested, he got up, went into the 
house and said, " Mother, I believe I will go to col- 
lege." But his mother said, " Why, my dear boy, 
you have no money, and your father could not help 
you, for he is not well and cannot support the fam- 
ily. You have been so very good to stay at home 
after you were of age to help us and give us the 

252 



College Men without Money 253 

money you have earned at spare times." Leroy 
said, " Well, Mother, others have worked their way 
through, why can't I? " 

On January 22, 1908, Leroy arrived in a college 
town in the Middle West. After he had introduced 
himself to the treasurer of the College, he was 
questioned as to his means, and replied that he had 
but 58 cents left. When he was asked how he ex- 
pected to go through college without money, he 
answered, " By work." That was a satisfactory 
reply, so he was assigned to a room. 

The weather was bad for some time, and work 
was scarce, but after a while things got better. One 
day a fellow student said to him, " I know where 
you can get work for your board and room by tak- 
ing care of a cow." He investigated and accepted 
the work, and held it until school was out in June. 
During vacation he worked on a farm and on a 
railroad section, and returned to school in Septem- 
ber. Everything was all right until February elev- 
enth, when he, along with a hundred other boys, was 
put in quarantine with smallpox. For eleven days 
he was in the hospital. When he came out his arm 
was so sore he could not work, and his eyes were 
so weak he could not study. He had to go home. 

The next fall, after cutting corn and picking ap- 
ples until winter, he returned to school and found 
work as janitor. He occupied the basement of a 
large building, receiving his rent for firing the 
furnace. He earned his board this winter washing 



254 College Men without Money 

dishes in a fraternity house. Later he decided to 
" batch " and Hved chiefly on rice and beans. 

After selhng books through vacation the time 
came to return to school, but his father fell sick, and 
for days lingered between life and death. After he 
began to recover he went West to recuperate, leav- 
ing the support of the family on Leroy. When Sep- 
tember came again, his money was gone. He found 
a position as night operator In a telephone office, 
and continued here until school was out. 

Looking back over the past, he says, " They who 
trust in God and work will gain the victory," and 
he assures the world that he is not sorry that he 
made the effort, and assures every young man who 
has good health and determination that he who 
wants an education can get it. 

Liberty, Missouri. 



THE REAL NEEDS OF THE WORLD 

CARL E. RANKIN 

AT present there Is much discussion as to 
whether a young man should earn the means 
for his own education or not. I shall try to give, 
in this paper, my reasons for working my way 
through college, and the methods I am using. 

My reasons for obtaining the money for my edu- 
cation by my own efforts are threefold. In the first 
place, I believe that I can get more out of my college 
course if I have to bear my own expenses. The 
student who goes to college with the purpose of 
working his way through will strive harder to make 
every moment count than the student who has no 
such responsibility. Secondly, I believe that by 
working my way through college I will be better 
fitted for life through training in economy. Econ- 
omy is something that is essential to success and 
happiness. We can acquire it only by long and In- 
cessant practice, and surely there is no better oppor- 
tunity for practicing this important acquirement than 
during our college days. Last of all, I believe that 
I should work my way through college because in 
so doing I will be of more service to the world. 
Before a man can be of the most service to the 

255 



2^6 College Men without Money 

world he must have a broad education that has 
trained him to reason and observe. He must be 
able to see the needs of the world and must have 
the ability to cope with them. Thus it is to be seen 
that if I will be better equipped for my life work 
by educating myself I will be able to see the real 
needs of the world, and surely if I am better 
equipped to see those needs I will be better fitted to 
take my place in life and cope with them. 

There are three methods I am using to earn 
money to bear my expenses : First, by working dur- 
ing vacation. Last summer I worked on my uncle's 
farm, and was able to save about eighty dollars. 
Secondly, I do some kind of work during my spare 
hours while I am at college. In this way I have 
been able to pay my board. I find the most profita- 
ble employment to be that of agency work of some 
kind, such as selling clothing, ties, college and class 
pennants, and stationery. In the third place, I bor- 
row some money each year. I am paying interest 
on this money, and hope to be able to pay back the 
full amount within a few years after I finish my 
education. In addition to the money that I borrow, 
since I am a ministerial student, I receive some 
money from the presbytery each year. In this way 
I count on a total of about two hundred and sixty 
dollars a year. 

Davidson College, Davidson, N. C. 



THE ONE WHO SUCCEEDS IS THE 
ONE WHO TRIES 

MARGARET HELEN SCURR 

I AM a freshman at Simpson College, and am 
working my way through. When I graduated 
from high school last spring, I did not think that I 
could be in college this fall. My mother could not 
afford to send me. I had no means of my own. I 
would be too young for two years to be entitled to 
a teacher's certificate; and in the little town where 
I live, it is very hard for girls to find for themselves 
any other employment. I was sorely dissatisfied 
with the thought of being out of school so long; for 
though I dearly love to study, I knew I could not 
make much progress without good books and teach- 
ers, which in private study I would not have. I was 
fully resigned to the necessity of postponing my col- 
lege course for several years. How foolish I was 
I soon found out. 

One of my high school professors had been ask- 
ing me repeatedly why I didn't go to coUege. At 
last, in desperation, I told him I didn't want to be 
asked that question any more, because I couldn't af- 
ford to go. He calmly responded, " I don't see 
how you can afford not to go to college. These are 

257 



258 College Men without Money 

the most vigorous years of your life, and one of 
them spent away from your studies will make school 
work much harder and much less interesting to you. 
A year of idleness will dull your appreciation of, 
and keenness in, all that school can give you. If 
you wait until you have saved money enough to go, 
it is very probable that you will become discouraged, 
and your ideal will retreat from you. Go now! 
Work your way through! It will be easy! " 

I wish someone would say words like those to 
every high school graduate. To me they were a 
revelation. Work my way through? Why, no- 
body but boys ever did that; how could I? But 
finally I allowed myself to be persuaded that, since 
others had done it, I could at least try. One thing 
was greatly in my favor: as honor graduate, I 
had been awarded free tuition at Simpson College, 
for one year. Immediately I set out to provide for 
other expenses. I made tatting by the yards, and 
sold it to whomsoever I could. I gave music les- 
sons, but, since there were so many other music 
teachers in town, I could not make much in that 
way. I was very well satisfied that I was able to 
make enough to pay for my carfare to the college 
town, my term fees, and my books. A friend found 
a place where I can work for my board and room, 
so that my expenses now are practically nothing. I 
am in a private home, and help with the housework. 
My work and my classes are so arranged that I 
often have several hours in which I can do extra 



College Men without Money 259 

work, which is nearly always available. Thus far, 
I have not had to borrow. I should not advise stu- 
dents to borrow unless It Is quite necessary. I do 
not like the Idea of Incurring upon myself the re- 
sponsibility of a debt. But most colleges have a 
loan fund, and I should surely prefer to avail my- 
self of that rather than to stop my school work. 
So here I am, making my own way, doing what I 
thought was Impossible ; and I am happy. 

" But does not the work take so much time and 
strength that none Is left for studies and for social 
functions?" someone will ask. Here, Indeed, a 
little optimism Is necessary; but, once get the work 
properly systematized, and there is no waste of time. 
The studies will be sure to find themselves a place, 
as do most of the social functions. And who cares 
for being a little tired? I am young and strong; I 
can laugh fatigue away. 

I am sure that I shall appreciate my college course 
much more, if I get it for myself, than I should If 
I were dependent upon others for It. If it were 
given to me, and If I passively received the gift, I 
might fail to understand Its value. Whereas, if 
I myself must put forth the effort for It, I shall be 
brought to realize how much It Is worth. 

Then, too, what a splendid tonic for self-respect 
it Is to be doing things for one's self ! It makes one 
feel strong and independent, an Individual capable 
of serving one's self and others, and not a poor 
weak thing for everybody to stumble over or stoop 



260 College Men without Money 

to assist. I fondly cherish the idea that the inde- 
pendence thus gained will help me to carry on what- 
ever profession I may choose as my life work with 
greater facility than I could otherwise. The ideal 
of any true profession is to help humanity; if my 
education, whether gained within the walls of the 
college or in the great school of life, but fits me to 
be helpful to my fellow creatures, It will have ful- 
filled its purpose. 

Does anyone still ask why I want to work my 
way through college ? In return I ask, " Why 
should I not?" There is no reason why any girl 
should not have a college education if she sincerely 
desires it. Money counts for little; it equips none 
with armor wherewith to face the battles of life. 
In getting an education, as in all things else, health 
and pluck are the only requisites. Individual effort 
must be exerted. The girl who succeeds is the girl 
who undertakes all kinds of work, in school or else- 
where, happily and heartily. 

Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, 



THE HELP YOURSELF CLUB 

ALBERT ELDON SELLARS 

WHEN I first conceived the idea of going to 
college I thought such an undertaking was 
entirely out of the question, for I was a boy without 
means. But I had a good supply of enthusiasm and 
so determined to try it. I decided that I would 
have a better chance at a small college, so I chose 
Hanover. Upon my arrival there in the fall of 
19 lo, I began a series of very interesting, often em- 
barrassing, but always amusing experiences. I had 
just enough money to pay my board for one week, 
but I used my brains more that week than I ever had 
before in my life. I soon found a grocer who 
needed help on Saturdays and he said he would give 
me a position that would pay $1.25 per week. 

The first night I was in town I noticed that the 
evening mail arrived at 9 p. M. and that only a few 
people were at the postoffice, so the next day I called 
on about a dozen families and agreed to bring their 
mail to them each evening for ten cents a week. 
This turned out to be a gold mine, for after about 
a week I had fifteen families on my list. These 
things, with a few hours of rug-beating and window- 
washing occasionally held me up during my first year 
at college. 

261 



262 College Men without Money 

When I went back the second fall I started a shoe- 
shining parlor, and soon worked up such a trade 
that I had to get an assistant, and finally as my work 
in the grocery took more and more of my time, I 
turned the shoe-shining business over to him and 
spent all of my spare time in the store. 

I have many times lain awake at night and 
thought out schemes to make self-help money for 
myself and others. Last year we organized a club, 
calling it *' The Help Yourself Club," of about 
twenty or more boys. I was " Chief of the Em- 
ployment Department," and when we became known 
we had all the work we wanted to do. Anyone 
wanting any kind of work done from shorthand dic- 
tation to cistern cleaning, called or telephoned to me 
and I sent a man to do it and saw that it was done. 
Our plan proved even more successful than I had 
thought it would, and the club is to be a permanent 
one. 

This year we are planning to go into business on 
a large scale. One of our members is to start a 
lunch counter. The shoe-shining and repairing shop 
is to be resumed, and I am thinking of setting up a 
penny picture studio. 

In closing this, let me say, " Rah ! Rah ! Rah ! " 
for the boy who has worked his own way through 
college. He learns to depend upon himself and that 
is the greatest lesson one may learn at college or else- 
where. 

New Castle, Ind. 



THE HOW AND THE WHY 

R. F. SHINN 

I WAS bom In the Arkansas River Bottom in 
Pope County, Arkansas, and reared on the 
farm. My parents had practically no education, 
but plenty of practical " bay horse " sense. Both 
father and mother were real Christians, and taught 
us children those principles. 

I am the sixth child of twelve. Father died when 
I was eleven years old. At thirteen I broke away 
from mother's teachings. I went to working in the 
coal mines and worked there and on the farm until 
I was twenty-two years old. I used tobacco in every 
form, swore, danced, drank whisky, and in fact I 
committed the entire catalogue of crimes. 

I was converted at twenty-one, under the ministry 
of Wild Bill Evans. Immediately God called me to 
preach His gospel. I felt as distinct a call to get 
ready as I did to preach. At this time I did not 
know that Hendrix College was In the world, al- 
though It was just forty-five miles from home, nor 
did I know of any other college. Somehow God be- 
gan to open my eyes, and old Shinn began to work" 
with Him. 

I was the oldest child at home at this time. 
263 



264 College Men without Money 

Mother said that she could live without my help, 
and if I thought I could get an education by myself 
she was willing for me to go. I packed my little 
bundle of clothes in a little canvas suit-case, and 
walked across the country to Hendrix. This was in 
August. When I arrived here I saw the president. 
Dr. Stonewall Anderson. I " batched," and cut 
wood for him three weeks. I found out that I could 
not enter even the Academy of Hendrix. I went 
back home, went to a little country school in the 
fifth and sixth grades, then to a little better school 
that winter, made a crop and worked at the mines 
until September, 1907. Then I came again to Hen- 
drix and entered the first year Academy. I had no 
money to begin with, and I have managed for every 
dollar I have used. I have never asked for a job 
of work of any kind. I was a few days early and 
I did general cleaning up, from mowing the campus 
to washing windows. My work was of such qual- 
ity that the matron chose me as one of the waiters 
in the dining-room. I was asked to run the dairy 
department the next year. I did this work four 
years. Last year I did the buying for the dining 
hall. I have the dairy department again this year. 
I cut meat, clean up the basement, and the campus, 
and keep up all odd ends that I can. 

I have played baseball two years, and this is my 
fifth year in football. I was business manager of 
our College Magazine last year. I have been our 
representative to the Y. M. C. A. conference at 



College Men without Money 265 

Ruston, La., twice. I preach during the summer 
vacations. 

I have worn clothes that the boys gave me every 
year since I have been here. I sometimes buy a 
reasonably good suit, coat, or trousers, from some 
of the boys very cheap. 

I have not missed a meal nor a class on account 
of sickness since I have been here. 

This is the " How." And the " Why " is be- 
cause there is no other way for me to get through. 
This way suits me. The best time of my life has 
been since I have been in college. 

Hendrix College, 
Conw^ay, Arkansas. 



MAKING USE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY 

SHEPPARD O. SMITH 

IT was my vague wild dream, the dream of re- 
turning to school, ever since in my sixteenth year 
my days at the country school ended. My father 
had purchased forty acres of land, every acre of 
which bristled with giant pines, hemlocks or 
spruces. To subdue and turn this into a farm with- 
out capital made my presence at home most neces- 
sary at the earliest possible time, I being the only 
son at home large enough to saw and roll logs. 

But ever my soul welled up within me as I thought 
of the world's tasks; and at times forbidden tears 
came as I realized my inability to add my part. For 
from early boyhood I had dreamed day dreams of 
usefulness. The words of the poet ever taunted 
me as I repeated them, — 

" In the world's broad field of battle, 

In the bivouac of life, 
Be not like dumb driven cattle, 

Be a hero in the strife." 

At nineteen, my younger brother having grown 
out of the country school and into workdom, I went 
to seek my fortunes in the beckoning West. 

266 



College Men without Money 267 

Four years of " bumping against the world " 
served only to increase my desire for knowledge. 
But the thought of entering school at twenty-three 
with little boys and girls embarrassed me, till hap- 
pily my attention was called to St. Paul's College at 
St. Paul Park, Minnesota, about forty miles from 
where I was then employed, where, I was told, other 
men of similar ages and circumstances had found 
suitable environment. I got into correspondence 
with the president of the institution, told him I 
wanted to go to school, but didn't have much money. 
Anxiously I waited for an answer to that letter. It 
came. I could fire a boiler in one of the heating 
plants and help take care of the campus. This 
would pay my board and room rent. Other odd 
jobs, he suggested, would help out in tuition and in- 
cidentals. 

School began on Tuesday; so Monday found me 
speeding for college, with ninety dollars to begin a 
college career. Never did a man approach a col- 
lege with less of self-confidence than I. The cows, 
as I crossed the fields to the college with a number 
of students-to-be, seemed to look at me with hungry 
eyes; for why should I not suppose that even the 
cows around a great institution of learning were suf- 
ficiently educated to know a green freshman. 

I soon acquired the combination of the heating 
plant, so that I could roast or freeze the dormitory 
inmates at will. (Some say it was mostly the lat- 
ter.) However, things passed along very success- 



268 College Men without Money 

fully, save an occasional dilemma announced by 
shrieks of terror-stricken girls in rooms where spirt- 
ing radiators demanded immediate presence of the 
janitor. At times I was offered odd jobs by profes- 
sors and neighbors, not the least in importance of 
which was the milking of the president's cow night 
and morning, the same cow whose wistful gaze I 
had so loftily interpreted on that first day, an opinion 
which I was soon forced to surrender, for I found 
that she had made poor use of her opportunities to 
acquire culture, unless it were physical culture or 
athletics, for occasionally, and without warning, she 
chose to dismount me from the milking stool and 
stick her foot in the milk pail in a very uncivil man- 
ner. These employments, with an occasional op- 
portunity to help in the college laundry, added very 
materially in making my first year in college. 

My first vacation was spent in a partially success- 
ful attempt at selling books in Saskatchewan, Can- 
ada. The latter part of the summer was spent 
threshing in western Minnesota. 

I returned to school about five weeks late that 
fall with scarcely as much money as on the previous 
year. The president had written to me that he 
would employ some boys in the kitchen and dining- 
room that year and offered me one of the places, a 
proposal which I promptly accepted. This work 
brought about the same pecuniary returns as the fir- 
ing had, and left some time as before for odd jobs. 

The second summer was spent in my home vicin- 



College Men without Money 269 

Ity in northern Michigan after what seemed a neces- 
sary absence of nearly three years. But September 
soon came again. My summer's work had not 
netted so much as the previous summer's earnings, 
but experience and famiHarity with conditions at the 
school added faith for another venture. 

I had resolved to try rooming out and boarding 
myself. A room was offered me by an aged widow 
and her daughter who taught in the public school. 
In payment for the room I was to tend the furnace. 
The work was a pleasure, the home was an exceed- 
ingly pleasant one In every respect, and I was made 
welcome in all parts of the house; and, save in one 
respect, I was contented in my situation. This one 
thing was in boarding myself. Though I believe 
that, too, would have succeeded had I had a room- 
mate to share the domestic duties. My hostess in 
her kind, motherly thoughtfulness saw my discon- 
tentment and suggested that I add a few more of 
the domestic duties to mine and take one meal each 
day with them. This I consented to do, though I 
felt, and still feel, that the service rendered was In- 
sufficient to pay for what I received. I intend some 
time to clear my conscience by, at least partly, mak- 
ing up the deficiency. 

During this year I found almost regular employ- 
ment in the college laundry on Saturdays, which, 
with the other earnings mentioned, carried me 
through my third year. 

During these three years I had made use of every 



270 College Men without Money 

opportunity to broaden my intellect and develop my 
small talents. The Literary Society, the Y. M. C. 
A., the Temperance Society and the Epworth 
League, aside from class work, offered splendid op- 
portunity for practice in composition and public 
speaking. 

Commencement had come again. Another grad- 
uating class went out from our dear old college halls 
to enrich the world. 

Again the question of earning the funds for school 
faced a few of us, who were fortunate enough to 
have to " paddle our own canoe." 

After working a few days in the vicinity of the 
college, a fellow student, of similar circumstances, 
and I went into North Dakota, where we spent about 
two months working on a farm. A minister in the 
town near which we were employed, hearing that 
we were students, invited us to his home where he 
consulted us concerning doing some substitute work 
in filling a number of Sunday charges which hap- 
pened to be vacant at that time. Though quite in- 
experienced in pulpit work, upon being urged, we 
consented to do our best. There was something at 
once humorous and long-to-be-remembered in this 
situation, as, on account of scant room in the farm 
house we were obliged to take our suite in the barn 
hay loft, which we heartily christened " our first 
parsonage." And who will deny that the cackling 
of chickens, the bawling of calves, the whinnying of 
horses and the grunting of pigs in an adjoining build- 
ing, together with the other barnyard dialects, was 



College Men without Money 271 

an inspiring atmosphere for spiritual reflection? 
This work, aside from the practice and added self- 
confidence (for, modestly, we did have a degree of 
success surprising to ourselves) , added considerably 
to our funds. 

School days approached again, but owing to an 
unprofitable move on my part, my acquired capital 
did not inspire me with confidence to return to 
school. But through the kindly interest of a friend 
I was offered, in loan, an amount sufficient to make 
it possible for me to return. Not many weeks 
passed before I again secured the work of firing one 
of the college heating plants. This year the work 
of firing was facilitated by an apparatus which I in- 
vented and constructed, by which the drafts were 
opened at any desired time in the morning by means 
of an alarm clock, the boilers having been coaled 
up before retiring. The machine worked perfectly 
and added an hour to my sleep in the morning, thus 
lightening my labor and increasing my rest. 

Still the time required for all the work mentioned, 
together with the added responsibilities of the senior 
year, constituted a load not easily carried, but when 
accomplished, gave all the more pleasure. 

My experience in largely making my own way 
through school is no tale of heroism. The same 
can be accomplished by any man with ordinary am- 
bitions and circumstances, and an appreciation of 
higher education. There are just a few essentials. 
Let the man who hopes to work his passage in school 
take with him a worthy aim, a sturdy backbone, strict 



272 College Men without Money 

habits of dependability, a good set of morals, and 
best of all, a consecrated Christian character, for the 
confidence which his conduct commands will be his 
best, and at times his only capital. 

I am sure that no one who ever accomplished his 
own support through college will deny that It was 
made possible very largely through the Interest and 
kind thoughtfulness of some generous souls who find 
the worthwhileness of life In helpfulness to others. 
In my room beside my table hangs a card which 
reads, — " When on top, don't forget the folks who 
run the elevator." 

I look with thankful memories, as does many an- 
other student, toward those whose carefulness has 
enriched my life ; to the president who proved a kind 
and prudent school father; to the professors and 
school-mates whose words of courage brought me 
out of many a slough of despond, and not the least 
to those who proved true, unselfish friends In the 
exigency of trying circumstances. 

My dear friend with worthy dreams, do not hesi- 
tate to make the plunge, out from which you will 
come strengthened and Invigorated for life's bat- 
tles. Have you missed. In your earlier years, the 
educational advantages due every man and woman? 
Your experience has but fitted you to better appro- 
priate knowledge. And let me add, your maturity 
will make It possible for you to lay a larger service 
upon the shrine of school and college life. 

St, Paul's College, Onamay, Mich. 



EDUCATION WORTH THE PRICE 

MARY E. WEST 

THE first several years of my school life passed 
pleasantly enough In the little district school 
at the corner of my father's farm In Southampton 
County, Virginia. They are remarkable to me 
now not so much for the attainment which I made 
In the three " R's," as for the fact that they gave 
me the desire and ambition for a well-rounded edu- 
cation. I remember quite distinctly the first money 
I ever earned. I was ten, I think, and the amount 
paid me by an uncle for some nominal service, the 
nature of which I do not recall, was one dollar and 
sixty-five cents. My aunt asked me how I would 
spend It. I considered and then replied that I would 
save it, add to It as I got money and when the time 
came, go to college. She laughed, and her skepti- 
cism was justifiable, for the treasured sum was soon 
gone, leaving behind It, however, something of in- 
finitely more value than the trifles purchased by Its 
commercial value, namely; a definite hope for a col- 
lege education. 

When I was thirteen, my mother died, the home 
was broken up and I, the oldest of five children, went 
to the little town of Wakefield to live with my great- 

273 



274 College Men without Money 

aunt, a widow of some means. It was her Inten- 
tion to educate me, giving me the advantages of col- 
lege training, and at her death to leave me her small 
fortune. Fifteen months later while I was con- 
valescing from appendicitis and typhoid fever in a 
Richmond hospital, she died after a short illness. 
She was delirious to the last and died intestate; 
therefore her property went to her nearest relatives 
and I returned to my father. He was and is a lum- 
berman, owning at that time a sawmill in partner- 
ship with a younger brother. Naturally, I could 
not remain for a great length of time In a sawmill 
camp. The other children were with my father's 
people. He considered for a time putting me In 
Corinth Academy, a Quaker school of Southamp- 
ton County, but finally decided to continue me in the 
district school of Wakefield. I returned to this 
town to board and attend school. I finished the 
grammar school that year. During the summer the 
People's Telephone Co. organized, and put the ex- 
change In the hotel where I boarded. For the nov- 
elty of the thing. In the week preceding the begin- 
ning of the fall high school term, I learned to op- 
erate the switch-board with no idea of ever becom- 
ing Its regular operator. Two weeks later the chief 
operator resigned to accept a position in the city, 
the assistant became the chief and I found myself 
the new assistant. It was my first year in the high 
school, and when the novelty of the new work was 
gone, and the demands of heavier school work be- 



I 



College Men 'without Money 275 

came insistent, I found that I had taken upon my- 
self no light task. My office hours were long, from 
five to ten in the evening on emergency duty, a night 
bell in my room from ten at night to six in the morn- 
ing, active duty again to seven, and one hour at 
noon to relieve the other operator. [The work was 
not heavy or hard, but extremely irritating and nerve 
racking, especially the emergency duty. Those first 
months were hard Indeed, but I steadfastly refused 
to give it up. It had gratified me exceedingly to 
write my father that I could bear a part of my ex- 
penses and the idea of resigning my position never 
occurred to me. My salary was small, twelve dol- 
lars a month, but to me It meant Independence and I 
was immensely proud of it. 

But there was another thing working in my brain 
which gave me no rest. The other children were 
dissatisfied. We had been separated three years 
and I wanted to bring us together again as one fam- 
ily. Father could not be with us on account of the 
nature of his work, so a sister of my mother agreed 
to stay with us, and when the New Year came we 
were once more together in a little cottage not far 
from the telephone office and quite convenient to 
school. The active work of the home did not fall 
upon me, but the responsibility did. To me, father 
directed all instructions, made all checks, and of 
me required all reports. I think I am safe in say- 
ing that in the four years we endeavored to hold to- 
gether barely a paper of pins was purchased with- 



276 College Men without Money 

out my knowledge and sanction. I planned and 
thought out everything about the home from the 
daily menu to the hanging of the garden gate, kept 
up my ojffice and school work, attended Sunday 
School and church regularly and did my best to live 
before my brothers and sisters a life which should 
stand for truth, honor and square dealing. 

The years of my high school life came and went 
and often I despaired of the end. The state of fam- 
ily finance fell low. The business venture of my 
father failed to make good, through no fault of his 
nor of anyone else that I know, but because of con- 
ditions of the market and so forth. At any rate, I 
know that the small amount which I earned was wel- 
come In the family purse, and I remember very well 
a period of perhaps two months when we depended 
solely upon my efforts. 

Those years were by no means easy. There 
were conditions of which I may not write that were 
trying In the extreme — days when I despaired of 
the future — nights when I very nearly lost hope of 
ever attaining any degree of the cultural training 
upon which I had set my heart. It is by no means 
an easy task to finish a full high school course with 
credit, even with plenty of time and no serious prob- 
lems of living to face. I have never been and am 
not a brilliant student — I make no claim to more 
than average Intellect In any branch of study, and 
In some subjects I am hopelessly dull. But I had 
a strong determination to win If It was humanly 



College Men without Money 277 

possible, and a very strong Incentive and inspira- 
tion In the continued love and trust of those about 
me. To the faculty of the Wakefield High School 
I owe much for the encouragement they never failed 
to extend me when I became more than usually de- 
pressed. To Professor J. J. Lincoln and his wife, 
I am especially grateful. They not only gave me 
encouragement and inspiration in many difficult 
places, but kept alive in me the desire for educa- 
tion. 

I finished at length the high school work, having 
earned in the four years about five hundred dollars 
and taken five prizes offered In the school for ex- 
cellency of work, two of these being medals, and 
the other three, money prizes. Until the last year 
of the high school work I had entertained no hope 
of college. The desire and ambition were quite as 
strong in me as ever. The thought of the end to 
which I had devoted my childish earnings for a time, 
never left me. But it looked quite Impossible and 
I resolutely faced the certainty of teaching once I 
had attained my high school certificate, and to this 
end I prepared myself. That last year, however, 
things looked brighter. Father's business prospects 
brightened and I began to wonder If after all a col- 
lege course was not possible. The Idea of attempt- 
ing it at my father's expense at a time when he was 
beginning to straighten up past deficits and bearing 
at the same time a heavy running expense, I did not 
like. I conceived the idea of taking a course in 



2/8 College Men 'without Money 

stenography during the summer and by means of it, 
paying a part of my way through college. We 
broke up the home and a week following my gradua- 
tion were in Salisbury, Maryland, boarding with 
relatives, and my sister and I attending the business 
school. I saw directly that the time was too short 
to gain any satisfactory degree of efficiency as a 
stenographer, but my ships were burned behind me 
and there was nothing to do but work as best I 
could until the fall opening of Elon College, North 
Carolina, which school I had determined to attend. 

We intended to make another home in the col- 
lege town to which we were going and with this in- 
tention arrived there a week before the date of 
opening. I was tired. I still did not lack the de- 
sire, but the strong purpose which had before held 
me up could not longer spur me to the effort neces- 
sary to undertake the task before me. I realized 
that it was utterly impossible to manage a home and 
attend school. A way out of the dilemma was sug- 
gested by the President of the College. We became 
members of the Young Ladies' Club, an institution 
conducted on the cooperative plan. My sisters and 
I became college students and my brother and two 
little sisters entered the graded school of the town. 

It is nearing the close of my freshman year in col- 
lege. With the exception of my tuition for which 
I had a scholarship from Professor Lincoln, I have 
been dependent upon my father for this year's fi- 
nancial requirements. To continue my course in 



College Men without Money 279 

college at his expense Is from my point of view, 
quite impossible, willing and ready though I know 
him to be. His expenses, past and present, are 
heavy, his business status though steadier and daily 
growing better is still unassured, the other children 
are to be considered; so I have definitely decided 
either to teach the coming year or return to col- 
lege, paying my own expenses. How I may be 
able to accomplish the latter, I do not know just 
now, though I have a plan which if it materializes 
will assure me the coming three years in college. 

Of one thing I am assured; a college education is 
a desirable thing and worth the price to be paid for 
it. It is not quite as easy for a girl to pay her way 
through as It is for a young man, her opportunities 
are fewer and as a rule not so good, but even at 
that I have a feeling that if she desires it strongly 
enough and puts herself in a position to be worthy 
of an opportunity it will come quite as surely as to 
him and she will make a stronger, finer woman for 
having faced serious problems and grave diificulties 
and won out over them. 

Elan College, N. C. 



WORK NO CLASS BARRIER 

LUCILE WRIGHT 

UPON finishing my preparatory course at the 
University of Wyoming I desired to enter the 
University proper, and in order to do so, deter- 
mined to earn money by teaching. For seven months 
I taught a country school about two miles from my 
home on the ranch. 

Although it was rather discouraging to enter col- 
lege a year behind my class, I did so, and during 
most of my freshman year kept house with my sister 
in two rooms rented from a private family. It kept 
us very busy getting our studies and keeping house, 
besides working in the musical clubs, basketball and 
Young Woman's Christian Association. 

The next year my sister and I lived at the girls' 
dormitory. I earned most of my way by helping 
clean the girls' rooms. Sometimes I made extra 
money by addressing bulletins, or fixing seals on di- 
plomas, etc., in the secretary's office. 

Last year I helped in the dining-room at the 
dormitory, thus earning my board and room. Since 
I am specializing in household economics, I was 
given the position of teaching sewing in one of the 
classes in the Training School of the Normal School 

28o 



College Men without Money 281 

of the University. With this aid I was able to pay 
all of my expenses. 

This year my mother is in town sending my two 
small sisters to school by boarding several of the 
university students. I assist her with this work and 
also have my sewing class in the Training School 
again. 

My sister and I agree that at the University of 
Wyoming no distinction is made against a person 
who is earning his or her way. On the contrary, 
he is encouraged and respected in this work. And 
why not? A proof of the statement which I have 
just made is in the fact that I am a member of Pi 
Beta Phi, of the Y. W. C. A. Cabinet, the Girls' 
Glee and Mandolin Clubs, and I take part in various 
other university activities. 

When I graduate in June I expect to secure a po- 
sition as instructor of home economics in a high 
school. This position pays a good salary, and is 
interesting work, and I am sure that I shall never 
regret the time which I have spent in attending col- 
lege nor in doing work to make my college education 
possible. 

University of Wyoming, 
Laramie, Wyo. 



PART III 

HOW TO WORK ONE'S WAY THROUGH 
COLLEGE 

OW to work one's way through college is a 
minor question compared with the question 
of character, ideals, purpose, faith and all that 
makes a man faithful to his nobler impulses. The 
chief asset for the attainment of a college education 
is a passion for knowledge, knowledge of the truth 
which sets a man free from all forms of error and 
false ideals. Our life is a constant struggle against 
our limitations. And the first asset of a cultured 
mind and heart is, that the soul shall be sensitive 
to the finer things in life, shall " see visions and 
dream dreams " until the soul in its thirst for the 
great things of earth and heaven shall break beyond 
the stars and catch a vision of the Soul of all truth. 
A young man with such a fire burning on the altars 
of his heart, with the sweet incense of his morning 
and evening prayers ascending as an expression of 
the God-ward aspiration of his soul is on the sure 
road to true culture and a genuine appreciation of 
life and all Its issues. 

How is a boy ever to come into the possession of 

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284 College Men without Money 

this soul hunger, this restless discontent with him- 
self and things as they are? There are some souls 
at whose shoulders wings seem to play, lifting them 
to great heights where they can hear things " un- 
lawful for them to utter." But there are others to 
whom the incentive upward must be imparted; in 
some way their ears must be attuned to the finer 
voices; the moral soul must be brought into a con- 
scious reahzation of its own powers and the possi- 
bility of coming into the sun-burst of God's pres- 
ence, and thus make a man forever discontent with 
himself. Where is the average boy to get this 
blessing, this first incentive to culture and nobility 
of life? If the atmosphere of the home is not such 
as to give it, either he must get it around the altars 
of the church, or from the personal touch of some 
friend, or preparatory teacher. So many people 
live under a low sky, " in the dull stagnation of a 
soul content " that the contagion is as heavy as the 
frost of winter upon the young and sensitive spirit. 
Once a young fellow has caught the vision, once he 
has heard the higher voices calling him upward, he 
will follow the beck of the spirit through college 
halls and on to high endeavor and noble living. 

As I said, at the outset the question of HOW to 
work one's way through college is a minor question. 
It depends on what you can do. If you are ambi- 
tious, begin to prepare yourself for college, also for 
working your way by learning to do something that 
everybody else cannot do. Remember that the 



College Men without Money 285 

world needs men with big hearts, clear minds and 
skilled hands. You can be all this. Why not re- 
solve to-day and go forward, following the guiding 
star of a Christly ambition in the spirit of Brown- 
ing, — 

" Who never turned his back but marched breast forward, 

Never doubted clouds would break, 
Never dreamed though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, 

Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better." 

Rev. W. E. Brown. 

Council, N. C. 



DOES A COLLEGE EDUCATION PAY? 

"TT7E Americans are an intensely practical 
VV people. Our Investments must promise 
liberal returns in cents and dollars. From this 
standpoint a college education is an absolutely safe 
and most profitable business venture. In this coun- 
try the average annual income of the college gradu- 
ate is $600 greater than that of the man not holding 
a college degree. Now, $600 is 5 per cent, of 
$12,000, and this means that the average college- 
bred man has safely stored away in his brain an 
educational capital equivalent to $12,000 in gold, in 
excess of the capital at the command of his brother 
without a college training. No father can leave his 
son a more valuable or profitable heritage, for the 
young man cannot lose it, no one will ever be able 
to steal it from him, it is safer than a government 
bond, and the interest from it will never be in ar- 
rears. Large as they are, however, the financial 
returns from a college education are not as great as 
other benefits. The intellectual training, increased 
mental powers, enlarged capacity for rational en- 
joyment, the increased efficiency for service to God 
and man — these are, after all, the essentially great 
benefits to be derived from a college education of 
the right sort. 

286 



College Men without Money 287 

*' You have heard scores of men express the deep- 
est regret because of their lack of a college educa- 
tion, but you have never heard anyone regret hav- 
ing taken a college course. 

" It has been calculated that the college man has 
three hundred times the chance of winning fame and 
distinction over the man without a college education. 
It is the shortest road to success." 



